Albums of the Year so far 2026

i thought maybe we could start this thread for 2026 even though it's a lot earlier than when Michael B started last year's thread. i loved having it around to look into things outside of my awareness that other people found excellent. and i wanted an excuse to post about this synth / sax ambient-ish album that came out last week to a wider group of people, which is deeply, wildly beautiful and only after a few listens i feel will be in my top 10 this year.

caterina barbieri, bendik giske - at source
https://caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/at-source

ty, bookmarked

I loooove this new Esplendor Geometrico album

https://www.rotordiscos.com/catalogo/el-pulso-del-acero-shinkansen/5177/

and this thing

https://passepartoutduo.bandcamp.com/album/pieces-from-places

It's still very early, but this is the best thing I've heard overall so far this year:

https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/album/aqu-ticos

So far this year, I'm straight repping my city of Toronto with a new EP by my fave new band, Potions, and their debut EP, potions95:
https://potionspotionspotions.bandcamp.com/album/potions95

RIYL Grizzly Bear, Sam Amidon, two-singer song-for-song tradeoffs, young jazz guys playing freak-folk with a touch o' Gastr

Sending the batsignal out to my friend fgti since if he hasn't heard this group yet he needs to--his old bandmate Matt "Prince Nifty" Smith mixed it

Tomeka Reid, Pat Thomas & XT, Wendy Eisenberg, Ivo Perelman’s albums with Nate Wooley & Wadada Leo Smith, Sunn O))), More Eaze, Bill Orcutt…

I havent listened to many new albums this year but Ive liked these

Dry Cleaning
Mod Lang
Gumshoes

maara - “ultra villain”

Natural Magic - II
https://naturalmagic.bandcamp.com/album/ii

^ the last record that Stirmonster was involved in before we lost him, kind of like Neu doing cosmic rustic psych with a bit of a dubby groove. very organic music to let your mind wander to. yes there are probably a lot of other records out there that would also fit that description (Peaking Lights maybe?), but this is really well done

Top tier:

Jill Scott
Floorplan - Fabric mix

Good:
Dry Cleaning
Momoko Gill
Courtney Marie Andrews
Charli XCX
Iron & Wine
Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore

didn’t realize the momoko gill was out yet!

an album i will plug:
gena (liv.e & karriem riggins) - the pleasure is yours

maara - “ultra villain”

― ||||||||, Wednesday, March 4, 2026 7:10 AM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes

also:

ratboys: singin' to an empty chair
picture: eeeeeee

placid angles: canada

i love that courtney marie andrews album too

florian hecker - natural selection
xaviersobased - xavier
joyce manor - i used to go to this bar
i promised the world - s/t ep
roc marciano- 656

The Jill Scott's wonderful.

also love shane parish’s new album of finger style autechre covers (appropriately titled autechre guitar)

also love shane parish’s new album of finger style autechre covers (appropriately titled autechre guitar)

Tomeka Reid

^^^^ I haven't heard the full album yet but the Bandcamp preview tracks are incredible.

Currently extremely into:

The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Deface the Currency
The Ruins of Beverast - Tempelschlaf

The new Bill Frisell record 'In My Dreams' with his trio + a string trio (live, although it does not sound like a live record) is def on there.

And Ron Carter's album with a giant modern gospel group, 'Sweet, Sweet Spirit'.

stuff I've enjoyed so far:

Ben Vince - Street Druid
Shackleton - Euphoria Bound
Daniel Bachman - Revolutions
PVA - No More Like This
Velv.93 - Maidstone
DJ Sundae - Mirrors
Running Out of Time - Cash Back

Natural Magic - II
https://naturalmagic.bandcamp.com/album/ii

^ the last record that Stirmonster was involved in before we lost him, kind of like Neu doing cosmic rustic psych with a bit of a dubby groove. very organic music to let your mind wander to. yes there are probably a lot of other records out there that would also fit that description (Peaking Lights maybe?), but this is really well done

― Reggaeton Sax (NickB)

Oh this is how I just found out stirmonster passed away. :( He was a legend. So sad to hear this.

also enjoyed John T. Gast - Infant but that's technically 2025 i guess

co-signing the Natural Magic and Fabiano do Nascimento/Eddie Ruscha albums as well

oh shit moka, i'm sorry. it is heartbreaking :(

enjoying the maara

xps also loving the ben vince and velv.93 records

Tomeika Reid is my fav of the year so far

dance! skip! hop! | Tomeka Reid | Out Of Your Head Records https://share.google/IJqkIzPg7A6RaydeZ

this is a terrific new post-punk album from the folks behind Aussie punk bands Total Control and R.M.F.C.:

https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/station-model-violence

oh hell yeah, thanks!

Really enjoying the Station Model Violence album so far (as someone pretty divorced from the Aussie 'egg punk' scene/who is unfamiliar with the bands, beyond Mikey Young mastering all the interrelated projects, so it seems)--am esp enjoying how both it as well as R.M.F.C.'s catalogue use 12-string guitar as a textural poppy post-punky secret weapon

totally, the 12-string rules (usually played by Mikey afaict)

Looks like Buz the R.M.F.C. guy is on 12-string, at least if this first SMV gig from 2024 that I just watched is any indication fwiw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6hJvnbJl5M

ah ok! Buz was drumming when I saw them (and his sister (I think) played sax, it ruled)

(them = RMFC)

Perhaps I'll use this thread to spotlight Pieni exit which is the new album by Finnish artist Malla. I chucked a vote at lead single "Toista tilaisuutta ei ehkä tuu" in last year's trax poll, which is broadly representative of the album as a whole: clubby, slightly wintry, lovelorn pop. There's a track with a refrain that sounds so much like peak Luomo ("Resepti") and I think my favourite track of all might be "<3 sanaa", an echo-y high BPM raveup.

other favourites thus far would include:

Girlfriend - Honey Water (accomplished R&B)
Hemlocke Springs - the apple tree under the sea (refer to the thread I started)
Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights (predisposed to love this as a True Romance truther)
Maria Arnal - AMA (Catalan post-Rosalía artpop album)

Melissa Aldana - Filin
Tomeka Reid Quartet - Dance! Skip! Hop!
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - Deface the Currency
Rob Zombie - The Great Satan
Teratoma - Longing Voracity
Immolation - Descent

And I gotta throw in a plug for something that's coming out on my own label:

Ava Mendoza - Alive Alone, Alive Together (a live album, half solo material and half duos with Hamid Drake; coming out 5/22)

Oh, one more:

Melvins with Napalm Death, Savage Imperial Death March

Glad to hear that Melvins/Napalm Death record is good!

Station Model Violence absolutely rules

Early favorites for me:

Barry Walker Jr - Paleo Sol
Wet Tuna - VAST
Blackwater Holylight - Not Here Not Gone
Hallas - Panorama
Eximperitus - Meritoriousness of Equanimity
Ratboys - Singin' to an Empty Chair
Converge - Love is Not Enough

(haven't played the new Messthetics or Cryptic Shift yet, but expect good things)

caterina barbieri, bendik giske - at source
https://caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/at-source

― map, Tuesday, March 3, 2026 8:18 PM (one week ago)

I'm moving slowly this year, but this is fantastic

Co-sign on the new Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis. Better, weirder and fiercer than before.

new sideshow album tigray funk absolutely lives up to the hype. been a fan of his for a while, and this is his best work by far.

enjoying barbieri/giske and tomeka reid bunches, thankin u ilx

fans of long hypnotic cosmic drone-y electronica: i recommend giving Nathan Dawidowicz - Fluff a spin

this is a terrific new post-punk album from the folks behind Aussie punk bands Total Control and R.M.F.C.:

https://staticshockrecords.bandcamp.com/album/station-model-violence

― alpine static, Thursday, 5 March 2026 17:44 (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is fantastic

^ The Bandcamp description is great. Listening to "Heat" now.

"Heat" is an insanely good song. I'll probably linger on it for a while before checking out the whole album.

Natural Magic and Station Model Violence pair together well, I'm down with the 2026 motorik revival

'heat' off that station model violence record is magnificent

it really is

Much like the Possible Humans record, I wish the SMV record was available for domestic USA purchase.

"heat" is phenomenal, now that's a post-punk track

this album is like early new order + bowie's berlin trilogy, just without the synths. it rules!

Really enjoying the new Shackleton album Euphoria Bound

https://samshackleton.bandcamp.com/album/euphoria-bound

the new neurosis album with aaron turner is really lyrical, heavy and unique

https://neurosis.bandcamp.com/album/an-undying-love-for-a-burning-world

The Moth by Chicago trio, Cancer House, is terrific and actually lives up to expectations evoked by the Bark Psychosis and Hood comparisons. Another gem from the motion ward label although not really like anything else mw has so far released

http://motionward.bandcamp.com/album/the-moth

*Chicago quartet, not trio

Jason Moran - Plays Duke Ellington (Bandcamp only, not streaming anywhere)
Immolation - Descent

so far, there are the records from 2026 that i've enjoyed the most.
with high hopes for the new charlie puth's record, but still didn't have the chance to listen to it.

bill callahan - 'my days of 58'
bill orcutt - 'music in continuous motion'
cergio prudencio - 'antología 2 : obras para la orquesta experimental de instrumentos nativos'
FdeVACA - 'circus suburbia'
força maior - 'morte lilás'
frankie & kelman duran - 'mcarthur'
jack sheen - 'press'
kmru - 'kin'
laurel halo - 'midnight zone (ost)'
maaara - 'ultra villain'
phibes praetorius & ugurgkuliktavikt - 'arnold schöenberg: streichquartett nr. 4, op. 37 - utterly dismantled'
picture - 'eeeeeeee'
ratboys - 'singin' to an empty chair'
rosie carney - 'doomsday... don't leave me here'
serpente - 'visita do fogo'
sissi rada - 'nana butu'
the soft pink truth - 'can such delightful times go on forever?'
xavier - 'xaviersobased'

some stuff I enjoyed listening to in March:

Group Rhoda - Phase 5
Klein Volk - In Weelde Verbrast
Chantal Michelle - All Things Might Spill
Avalon Emerson & the Charm - Written into Changes
Kali Malone & Leila Bordreuil - Music for Intersecting Planes
Nomad War Machine & Susan Alcorn - Contra Madre
Maria BC - Marathon
Ms Ray - Melt EP
Fallen Flowers - s/t
Craven Faults - Sidings

love the new kali malone

I'm really digging both new Wet Tuna albums