Music for 10/19/26!!! Fontaines DC, 6LACK

@@@ Fontaines DC: Dopamine Chamber (XL, 2026). I’m back from travelling and I only mention that because I was in the UK and you couldn’t take a shit without seeing the push for the new Fontaines DC record. Let’s peep. I’m expecting anthemic rock, not quite U2 but big hooks and big rock, but hey maybe not. The opener is a bit of a snoozer, the singer is not putting out much energy at all and there’s not a lot to go with his work. Well color me confused, this is not anthemic (yet) and it’s pretty much warmed over retro 80’s synth centric rock. There’s not a lot of passion here, it’s a very corporate affair, it’s gonna be huge I’m guessing. This third tune, Mimesis, enters straight up into boring territory, I’m not looking for this energy and you shouldn’t be as well. The singer is mad boring.

@@@ 6lack: Bear (Interscope, 2026) I’m a pretty big 6lack fan, I really liked his debut. I’m only checking out his new single but if I dig it, I will come back for more. This is a blend of spaced out r&b and hip hop, the mix is righteous on my banging headphones, thick and present. I’ve listened to three tracks here and I like it but I don’t love it which is a bummer cuz I wanna love it. The sounds are insanely high quality but the tunes are a bit claggy and soft to my ears, I’d like to hear more fire. I really like his voice but he’s dialed way back on this, that’s what I hear.

Music for 10/14/26!!! Slow Pulp, Lusine

@@@ Slow Pulp: Melodie (Anti-, 2026). There was a time when I peeped everything Anti- put out, it hasn’t been that way for a bit, a long bit, but these guys are on this week’s All Music notable release email. I really like the sounds here, super right up in yer grill but it sure sounds like somebody is trying to bring back retro indie rock from the late ’90s early 00s. Nice melodies, a female singer, a lot of strummed acoustic guitar. This might be my last track, these guys need a stompbox quick, oh no something even worse has happened it’s an ;80s chorused and a bit buzzy guitar sound, yikes. I get that people like this formula, at least I hope somebody is listening to this style of music but it’s not me.

@@@ Lusine: Melting Days (Ghostly, 2026) Off this week’s AllMuisc notable release email, I haven’t heard an ambient record from Ghostly International for a bit. The opener is lighter rather than darker and it flirts with New Age sounds but it doesn’t fall into the big tub of cotton candy. The second tune opens with a thumb piano-ish, again it’s lighter rather than darker but it has a bit of weight to it. It’s very cinematic music, or at least it feels that way to me, but I could use a bit more darkness to it, one more track and Imma tip.

Music for 10/13!!! Miley Cyrus

@@@ Miley Cyrus: Bass Persuades (Atlantic, 2026). I’m not a huge fan of Miley Cyrus I’m gonna be up front about that going in. I don’t think she’s as ill as Lady Gaga, but I find her schtick really annoying, the weary smoke infested gravelly voice, yeah right cry me a river, your pain is no more important than anybody else’s. Oh my the title track, Bass Persuades kick off the festivities, and it’s an absolute shit biscuit, this is horrible dancefloor music. Her lyrics are shit, both the substance, or lack thereof and the delivery — she has no flow, zip nada zilch bupkus. The funk factor on this is low low low, it’s horrible. Next track. Is the second tune better? No not really! The third tune is a pop ballad called Let’s Get Married and to be perfectly blunt it’s predictable as shit and it sucks balls. This record is a waste of time and money and bandwidth, I’m ashamed I even listened to the snippets. It’s as bad as the Olivia Rodrigo record and that was huge so I urge my fellow Americans to turn their backs on this shit for your own sake. Tragic.

Music for 10/12/26!!! Valerie June, Carly Rae Jepsen

@@@ Valerie June: Baby Blue (Concord, 2026). A 3 song EP I got to via a Pitchfork’s 10 most reviewed albums of the week. Most notable here is the modern production it’s not trying to be retro at all and Lord I think it’s a breath of fresh air. The EP is only three tunes and the second goes mostly hillbilly with a bit of crunchy guitar, I like the vibe it’s heartfelt and not epic and corporate. None of these tunes are originals but they’re rendered with soul and I dig that.

@@@ Carly Rae Jepsen: Day and Night (Interscope, 2026). Just a quick peep on an artist that gets a lot of eyeballs and print but I don’t think I’ve ever heard. I think I know why as soon as I hear it. It’s breathless coffee shop rock, big production, with interestingly a little bit of big dancefloor feels, that’s about all I can hear in this first tune before it goes out more pop than dancefloor. This is a two disc effort and a major label record to boot, and it’s just hip enough for square people to think they’re hip. I don’t love how they present her voice like she’s floating above the tune like an angel but I’m guessing a lot of people are really into it. I’m the freak here, I fully get that. It’s well produced but it’s really really a conservative approach, all cool sounds, no fire and very predictable in its combining of dancefloor and pop.

Music for 10/10/26!!! Jim James, megiapa

@@@ Jim James: Wowed Out (ATO, 2026). A couple listens off a KCRW 5 songs of the week list to peep what some of the normies are listening to out there. I liked Jim James and the debut record by My Morning Jacket and since then I think the hype has outshone the creativity and that’s not nasty it’s just how I feel. It’s a heavily ’70s Dream Weaver/faded pop rock biscuit, it even reminds of a specific track but I can’t pull it off the top of my head. It kinda comes and goes like a small sweet candy and that’s the point, light impact or no impact. My perception of him as being a bit hyped has been underlined here. I like music that hits.

@@@ megiapa: (SMT) (International Anthem, 2026) Another song off the KCRW 5 songs of the week where I found the record Nuevos Rios, which is a world music record out of Colombia that has a lot of traditional large ensemble Latin music but they use some synths to really make it their own sound, so that’s why I listen to these KCRW songs, finding great records is not easy, I repeat it’s not easy. This is the twelfth tune on the record and it’s a sultry r&b ooh aah track with fingersnaps, a lotta female vocal tracks layered and a chill sitch. I’m checking out the opening track before I tip and it’s similar but a bit brisker. It’s similarly a lot of tracks, kinda chill but not boring just not spaced out r&b. Regular readers know I like the fire business, I don’t dislike it, if I can’t take the new Erykah Badu record which is firmer and more hip hop, that’s an indicator, my fav r&b female record is the new Jill Scott record from earlier this year.

Music for 10/9/26!!! Hoavi

@@@ Hoavi: Archetectonics (Peak Oil, 2026). Off this Quietus list I’ve been chewing through, I really like the percussion and the back bit on the opening track, but the sax part less so. The record came out in April and it consists of 11 tracks that span 41 minutes. I’m feeling this second track much more bigly, it’s got more heat while still rocking multiple layers of percussion. The top part of the compositions, the melodies are softer and longer and they float over the chopped up rhythms. Me myself I would want more energetic melodic components. I’m on the fourth track and the sax is back. In addition to my observation of the melodic components being soft, I could roll with this if there was nasty bass of any number of flavors that I could groove in contrast with the rhythms going on here. Synth bass, pulsating basses, an upright bass, some classic dancefloor basses, any one of those sounds would deepen out the percussion. But there is no bass going on here and that’s a damned shame. To me this record is a good idea that wasn’t fully thought through but that’s just me. Check it for yourself.

Music for 10/8/26!!! Carmain Villain

@@@ Carmen Villain: Villain (Smalltown Supersound, 2026) Slotted as experimental music in this week’s Pitchfork email and out on Smalltown Supersound, a decent sized indie label in Scandinavia, let’s give this thing a whirl. This is a record by a female artist who is of Mexican and Norwegian descent which is interesting but does not necessarily mean something vis a vis the record we have playing right now. I do like Mexican electronic music, I dig it, not all of it but a whole bunch of it. Thus far in Track 2 it’s a 7 minute banger and it’s pretty ambient with some slow rolling burbling rhythms underneath, it’s nice background music and I’m not being a bitch about it using those words. The third track, Memoria, is even slower and tilts more ambient, I respect it, I’m not super in the mood for it right now, but that doesn’t say much about the quality of it as a piece of music. These fourth and fifth tracks pick up the pace and by the end of the record I’m feeling like the back end of the record is more interesting to me than the first half and I’m not sure what to say about that. In addition to that comparing ambient records to one another seems quite fruitless; how you feel about ambient music has to do with what kind of sounds you like, it’s really just personal preference. I’m psyched I liked the back half, I listen to more than 1500 records a year and liking half a record is way more positive than the usual result. Mixed bag it is.

Music for 10/7/26!!! Wired, Pokey Lafarge

@@@ Wired: Basement (Run for Cover, 2026) I’m just about out of bands on my Clash magazine best of the year thus far and I’m checking out these guys who’ve been making music for 20 years and they’re returning to their post hardcore band. Thus far I’m mostly feeling the drummer, he’s got swagger and I’m listening to him. They are a very polished outfit, they know what they’re doing when it comes to playing together. Do I love what they have going on? Occasionally.

@@@ Pokey Lafarge: Rent Money (oneRPM, 2026). I was just listening to the latest Alabama Shakes record and was saddened to hear how sleep it sounded. The same thing could have happened with Pokey Lafarge, he’s been in the music slinging game for a long time and he could get all tired and brunchy but not on this opener. He’s not burning down the house but he’s sharp and got a sharp energy going on, let’s hope he keeps it coming. The great thing about Pokey Lafarge and his music is when he’s got his simple pimp walking style going on it crackles, background vocals pushing their way through, the drums open sounding, some old school Howling Wolf-ish chicken scratch guitars, he’s 2 for 2 on this record thus far. I listened to 8 tracks out of the 11 tracks that span 35 minutes and I think this is a banger, it’s mature, it’s got attitude it’s a pose obviously his whole retro rocker wisecracker thing I get that but it works for me. Don’t sleep on this record.

Music for 10/6/26!!! Adrian Younge

@@@ Adrain Younge: Afro-Disco Makossa (Linear Labs/Sony, 2026) I got to this release off this week’s All Music notable release email and the idea of Afrobeat and disco making a baby is not an objectionable idea in my world. I don’t love either genre whole heartedly and maybe together that’s gonna be a beautiful baby. It’s a nice palm sized record, 6 tracks over 26 minutes so let’s peep. When I hear the call and response vocalizing going on it sounds like Sly Stone has entered the chat. The second tune, Shake Down, is driven by bongoes and in combination with the drums high up in the mix it’s a ripper. I’m not saying that the huge Fela Kuti jams are my favorite shit ever but one thing I respect about Fela is that he was a man on a mission, a mission for his country and his people and I don’t hear that hear. I like a party record as much as the next guy but this genre of music has freedom and liberation baked into from day 1 and this record feels light on that. That said the drummer here is the very definition of popping, he’s fully got my attention. Some more variation in the vocalizing area would deepen the record in my opinion. I think I’ve got this record correctly grokked, it’s important to be honest about what’s going on.

Music for 10/5/26!!! Useless Eaters

@@@ Useless Eaters: Music for Clout (Halo FX, 2026) A punk record released in August that opens up with an young African American losing her shit and vowing revenge. That’s a great sign, I love hearing people lose their shit. This first tune after the opener ‘Contrast’ is half punk/half new wave, I guess that used to be called no wave I think these labels are a drag but we use words to describe music to each other and that’s what we got. Mechanical drum beats, thick grizzy bass, sloppy ass guitars with distortion but certainly not a blizzard of hardcore punk and a monotone detached singer, this formula is pretty well established. They ramp it up on the fourth tune, Lush Bomb, and to be honest it’s too staticky and no wave-y for my taste, it’s making me grind my teeth and I’m not into it. I do get the punkness of that, it’s like what the butthole surfers did for many years. This record is 11 tracks spread over 28 minutes and I’m going to tip after the sixth tune. I don’t dislike it, it’s the headache thing, I love noisy records, I love sound and noise but this sort of nihilistic punk grating has never been something I’m into. It’s like watching somebody bone a barnyard animal (pick your fav and put it here), I get the entertainment value but I don’t share the enthusiasm. No judgment.