Short Reviews of Recent Albums #4
Therapy, poison apples, monsters, and Speaking My Truth
Three months into 2026, and I’m still waiting. For a breath of fresh air, for a winning lottery ticket. But in the middle times we still, thank God, have music. Here are my favorite albums that have come out so far this year—I hope this gives you something new to listen to. A little lightness, a little extra luck.
(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓽 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓡𝓮𝓬𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓐𝓵𝓫𝓾𝓶𝓼 ♥
**note: I’m linking to Spotify on these even though I’ve personally switched over to Qobuz… I want it to take as few clicks as possible for the majority of people to get these tunes into their actual ears, no matter their current platform choice… That being said, I do not endorse Spotify from like, an overall moral perspective lol - Qobuz has been pretty good to me so far and I do recommend it!
Ratboys - Singin’ to an Empty Chair
The last couple of years have put most of us through the meat grinder and, subsequently, in therapy—and Chicago’s Ratboys seem to be no exception. The album title references a therapy technique, “talking to an empty chair,” that involves the patient (therapee?) engaging in a one-sided conversation in hopes of finding some sort of resolution. Theoretically a sappy concept for a record, but in the competent, riff-rich hands of the Rat rockers it becomes something solid and sacred. As I stood watching the band members jam on the Mohawk outdoor stage last weekend, tears streaming down my face, I did sort of get the feeling they should be billing us all for a sweat-soaked, cigarette-scented therapy session.
hemlocke springs - the apple tree under the sea
No one is doing it quite like hemlocke springs. On her debut full-length album, the alt-pop siren beckons us into her fucked-up fairytale world, bedecked with spooky melodies, haunted Biblical references, and, as the stunning album art suggests, poison apples. She’s like a grimier Grimes, roughing up her pop hooks with fuzzy basslines and vocals that cut sharp corners into the occasional growl. In a just world, this release would be hurtling hemlocke springs up into the stratosphere of stardom, but regardless, it’s a delight to hang out with her down on the creepy, trippy ocean floor.
Katzin - Buckaroo
This album takes me to Shins-land. The manic whimsy of the guitar strums, the weird little bleeps and bloops, the asymmetric rhythms, the absentminded chord progressions—it’s all heavily nostalgic. The twist, though, is that Katzin’s voice on Buckaroo carries a completely different flavor of nostalgia for me—it’s got a clear, ringing earnestness and insistent breathiness that makes me think of, honestly, Dashboard Confessional. Throw a bunch of cowboy-themed song titles in the mix, and it’s almost like, what are we doing here exactly? And yet I can’t help but be calmed, transported, and immensely charmed by the net result. I mean, if you make music that sounds like it could have been on the One Tree Hill soundtrack, that’s kind of a shoe-in for me.
MX LONELY - ALL MONSTERS
Loud and sullen trio MX LONELY make wallowing sound good on this irresistible rock record. Like their sonic neighbors Fleshwater, the band’s giant guitars hack fresh new paths through the undergrowth of an almost-saturated shoegaze market, making way for the alternating vocalists’ meandering melodies, yells, and whispers. If you’re going to be this angsty—”I’m in love with adderall and validation,” both frontpeople sing on the chorus of “Shape of an Angel”—you’d better make it sound as sharp and alive as ALL MONSTERS does.
Cardinals - Masquerade
Guys
I’m sooooooooooooo sorry
But this is MY blog and I need to speak MY truth
I’ve fallen in love with another album that reminds me of vintage Bright Eyes. :(
Twisted Teens - Blame The Clown
If you haven’t dipped your toe in the punk pool recently, may I recommend Blame The Clown? And if you have, may I also recommend Blame The Clown? The New Orleans duo’s latest offering has all the punch and crunch I want from a punk record, wrapped in fresh, crackling pedal steel and blown-out garage fuzz. It’s the kind of music you wouldn’t be able to pull off unless you’re really, really from the South, but they are, and they do, and it’s the best of multiple worlds.
Morgan Nagler - I’ve Got Nothing To Lose, And I’m Losing It
Oh, a Phoebe Bridgers co-writer put out an existential alt-country album with crunchy electric guitars? Yeah I’ll listen.
Other notables:
Underscores - U (catchy bratty hyperpop)
Bill Callahan - My Days of 58 (hot old guy music)
Yumi Zouma - No Love Lost To Kindness (guitar&bass&drums alt-pop)
Grace Ives - Girlfriend (POP x10000)
Gregory Uhlmann - Extra Stars (weird chill jazz)
Victoryland - My Heart Is A Room With No Cameras In It (post-rock sauteed in The Killers)
Otto Benson - Peanut (calming, buoyant lo-fi folk)
Mon Rovia - Bloodline (Bon Iver’s biological son (not actually))
Courtney Marie Andrews - Valentine (thoughtful, pretty ruminations of an Emmylou Harris acolyte)
Madi Diaz - Enema of the Garden State (precisely, and in every aspect, the acoustic guitar covers of Blink-182 that 16-year-old me wishes she could’ve done)
Anything big I missed? What have y’all been rocking with this first part of the year? Lmk!
THANK YOU for validating my Bright Eyes —> Cardinals theory because I love them and know that that is not an insignificant reason why but worried it was maybe only me.