Music for 8/28/26!!! Erykah Badu

@@@ Erykah Badu: Before the World Blows (Young, 2026). Released today and looking at the guest list here it’s a cultural moment with appearances from Kamasi Washington to Thundercat to other more mainstream hip hop names. I was always a bit suspicious of Badu’s music as she was most definitely into packaging her music with a lifestyle and I’m pretty against that. This first tune is sonically pretty advanced and Ms. Badu is not exactly rapping she’s holding court on this opener. I like it, it’s got an interesting hippie/post hippie thing she’s been rocking for a long long time. I didn’t finish the opener it was 7 minutes long and I liked it but maybe not that much. The last third of the second tune is the closest the record has come to working a song structure, and it jumps out to my ears, other parts of the record feel like a lot of layers floating over r&b/hip hop beats, certainly no sort of trap sounds to be found here yet. I’m on the fourth tune Witches, and I’m feeling the sonics more than I’m feeling Ms. Badu, I prefer Jill Scott’s energy from earlier this year, more combative and out to prove something, I’ve always had a bit of a beef with the hippie feels, how do you represent when you’re so lax? It’s a big record with 16 tracks over 62 minutes and there are moments that are sonically very 21st century Hendrix-ian collage-y and really cosmic shit but the energy here is not super aimed at me.

Music for 8/27/26!!! Underscores, Babau

@@@ underscores: U (Mom and Pop, 2026) I saw this record at the top of the best of 2026 list thus far and I haven’t peeped it yet. The blurb says it’s at the intersection of genres but thus far it’s rolling as pop which it’s labelled as. I mighta heard this and forgot it. This happens, I listen to so much. However I just went to this here blog and searched on underscores and nothing came up so I’ve heard a buncha music like this. I will also say that almost every week there will be somebody marketing a record that claims to be the anti-pop pop record so there’s that. There’s a lot of energy here, it’s ramped, not methed out but plenty of glitch, big synth basses diving voices etc. I’m on the third track and I will say it’s an ambitious record technically, it’s hard put together a record like this, it’s a lotta work. That said I’m not listening and being moved, my body moving or me feeling the beat, I’m just noticing that there’s a lot to listen to and it’s raining down on me like a Marvel superhero movie, overwhelming my senses to a certain extent. Maybe not in quite the way I want to be overwhelmed. A friend of mine who reads this here blog occasionally was mentioning that it might be good for readers to get a suggestion when I’m at the end of a record of another record that might do something similar and then they can go listen to that. I do do that sometimes but today I embrace because I would rather listen to the record by Babau released earlier this year, it’s called the Sludge of the Land. It’s a similar melting pot of sounds but way more organic, less sci fi and less teched out though it’s hard to put this record together as well but for different reasons. This is an unusual combo of sounds so you have to have all these sounds go together where the underscores record is consistent in its commitment to technology, glitch and sci fi. I’ve clipped the Babau record below the underscores record, rock on!

Music for 8/26/25!!! Ella Langley, BTS

@@@ Ella Langley: Choosin’ Texas (Columbia, 2026). How does an ode to the quasi fascist state of Texas become song of the summer? Oh Lord what bizarre ass times we live in. Musical observations: there’s a Jimmy Buffett guitar melody in this badboy and the guitar work outside of the slide guitar tucked in the back is pretty mainstream. It may be hard to grok with just words but a friend of mine once told me something can mean everything and nothing at the same time. It can be true and untrue at the same time. This is just a tune but does it mean something? I think it means something, not a ton but it sure as shit shows that rightwing folks love identity politics, here they’re pushing up a pretty mindless tune about where they’re from. I think that’s just as lame as that lame ass tune ‘NY State of Mind’ by Alicia Keys and Jay Z that I’ve had to endure for decades now. The whole tune is very smooth and familiar and predictable and I think that says something about a certain part of our society.

@@@ BTS: Swim (Bright Music, 2026). Another tune listed by a random AI that might or might not be a song of the summer. Let’s peep. It opens with a breathy vocal and an arpeggiated synth and then busts out into a brisk beat with major pop sauce over the top. Exquisitely produced and smoothed there is no fuzz on this peach, that’s for sure. I find the whole K pop phenomenon fascinating, how a sizable piece of black music culture is filtered through an ancient Asian culture and then fed back to white shopping mall walkers, honestly you can’t make this shit up. The sounds are very conservative, the beat hovers between a hip hop funk beat and a white frat boy rock beat, everything here is carefully chosen and labored over.

Music for 9/25/26!!! Gi Gi, Infant

@@@ Gi Gi: In Lieu (Mood Hut, 2026). I got to this record via the best ambient music of July 2026 and the first thing I notice is that there is a lot of hip hop flavors in this opener. Some ambient feels in the breakdown section, but it’s got beats, brisk beats and he’s moving asses which I’m not sure is a core mission for ambient music. I’m on the third tune and this is really much more ambient flavored hip hop than it is hip hop flavored ambient music. Does it matter, you might wonder??? Yes and no. They are different genres that do different things and produce different vibes. If he had taken the beats down and really gotten deep into the ambient drones and atmospheres he coulda really rocked it, so it seems a bit stuck in the middle — will hip hop folks dig this? will ambient folks dig it? I don’t hate it, but it’s not moving me.

@@@ Infant: Dustlick (Blake Karlson, 2026). Also off the July 26 best ambient music from the fine folks at bandcamp or what’s left of bandcamp cuz their ownership has changed twice I think and I love bandcamp but I’ve heard part of it has been put in a wood chipper. We’re going for the twofer ambient today and It looks like we might have hit on something I can get with a dubwise ambient formula with a lot of echoes and depth. Unlike the album above the beats and the ambient space is better matched with some rhythmic components of the track getting dubbed out and ascending to the ambient sphere above the beats. I like the feeling of a spacious track that hasn’t been cheesed out, let’s hope the other bangers bang like this. This third tune, Broth, has a nice churning chit chit, metallic echo going and the track feels very finely worked and dare we say bespoke? I dare not say bespoke but it feels concious. I will circle back to this record when I have the time and the right energy to sink down into the vibes here, this third tune is a captivating banger. Check it out.

Music for 8/24/26!!! Margaret Glaspy, Black Marble

@@@ Margaret Glaspy: I am Both (Virgin, 2026) I got to this record via a couple week old All Music notable release email. This is a major label record so it sports slicked out production which can be a good thing or a bad thing because if there’s not enough fire in the tune and the arrangement then the whole thing can end up being a bagel brunch record for folks with good paying jobs, that’s about 42 people now from what I read in the papers. This first tune, Michigan, is a long feeling 5 minute banger, not a great sign. I skipped ahead, I had had enough. Track 2, Reminder, opens with some plain talking and some acoustic guitar strumming. It’s a self help anthem where she’s talking to herself, I like some of the lines, and some of them I don’t like at all. She’s just starting to get a bit breathy, and I would like remind folks that there’s a thin line between honest confession and self indulgence and where an artist crosses that line lyrically well that ain’t never gonna get settled. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what music means and if some artists try too hard to mean too much, to pack their music and lyrics with ‘meaning’ and maybe just maybe that can be very counterproductive. That’s what I’m feeling here, it’s just too meaningful for me, I would prefer less meaning.

@@@ Black Marble: Life in Small Spaces (Sacred Bones, 2026). I’m giving a quick peep to this record after seeing the front man taking about how artists can build sustainable careers in the music industry and he seemed in touch with reality. This outfit is from Brooklyn and they offer up a spirited ramped up version of 1980’s sounding rock, not my favorite era but hey people dig it so there’s that. If you crunched up the guitar and took the chorus out and took that ’80s sound off the snare well then it would be different and I might like it more but I say stick with where you’re at and get on with it. So while I respect these guys for the effort to build a ‘career’ in music (which given how things are going in this country it seems kinda impossible to do out into the medium term future) this isn’t really my kind of music. I only peeped the first three tunes and I like the third track the most.

Music for 8/23/26!!! 730turk

@@@ 730turk: Trapculinary vol. 2 (the recipe) (730Ent, 2026) I got to this rap record via this week’s Pitchfork’s 10 most reviewed albums of the week. There is stripper pole rap and there’s drug dealing rap, and there’s left field hip hop, and this looks set to be a retro leaning party drug dealing rap record. The first tune, the recipe, is brisk with multiple voices and the lead MC Mr. 730turk or Mr. Turk has a unique tone to his voice, low and gravelly maybe he’s a smoker), and he’s got a Flavor Flav type sidekick popping off next to him. This second tune, richest rapper, is another brisk banger a little less buys than the opener, and while I’m agnostic on the drug dealing records this MC has energy and brings it. The contrast between co-MC and the lead MC really makes the tunes stand out. I think the first few tracks are super hot and it sllightly fades, not a ton cuz of that interplay energy but to be honest a full record of drugs and hoes is about as much fun as a Wilco triple record, it ain’t in the works. All the tunes here are pretty short, sub 3 minutes shots which I think is good, hit it and move it to the next one. It’s only 36 minutes but I’m tipping out at track 7 fish grease.

Music for 8/21/26!!! L’Rain, Kiwi Jr.

@@@ L’Rain: fata morgana (Mexican Summer, 2026). A psychedelic indie effort by a Brooklyn woman Taja Cheek that I got to via the Line of Best fit. The opener is not psych, it’s a piano driven off kilter tune, I like it all right. Maybe folks don’t understand that a lot of reverb and space in a tune doesn’t make it psychedelic, it can be a component but psych is wilder than this so red flag throw the penalty flag cuz it’s misleading. I give this two more tunes, but I’m not feeling excited don’t make an art school slow thing and tell me it’s psych, you think I don’t know what psych sounds like, this is drama indie. Okay I’m gonna tip on this record, it’s boring, no offense to the woman who made it but it’s too slow and there’s no passion here, it’s a big downer.

@@@ Kiwi Jr.: Blowin’ Up (K Records, 2026). Off an Allmusic notable release email from a week of two ago. It comes right out of the gate retro jangle rock, stable dude in front, nothing says white boy like a jangly guitar and a Lou Reed flavored voice. He’s got more pep than Lou Reed. The second tune cranks the drums up a whole bunch and it’s the title track and having the drummer up high certainly cranks the energy super fast, excellent move. Oh shit, they went into a big stomp box section of grizzy ass guitar so points for that, these boys are looking to compete for attention, ain’t nothing like some unexpected sounds and changes to grab your ear holes. Ah, more confusion as they keep the distortion box on in the third tune so maybe it’s not a jangle rock record, Lord you gotta remember them first impressions. This record proves the eternal appeal of energy, if you’re making a record and even if your formula is pretty familiar but you bring the energy, well then you can get some fans. That’s the case here, I was bored by the predictability of the opening track and then they took it up a few notches and I can respect it.

Music for 8/20/26!!! Nino Paid

@@@ Nino Paid: Somewhere over the Rainbow (Sony, 2026). This major label hip hop record is in this week’s Pitchfork 10 most reviewed albums of the week. I don’t have a lot of love for the big label hip hop records, but I peep them to hear the sounds and see what they’re about. More clear evidence that all genres are getting blenderized, this hip hop record opens with a tune with a kit drummer and strummed indie style guitars. Blame the internet don’t blame me! The second tune reverts to classic drum machine action but a thick almost rock like bass, somewhat fat but also grizzly like a distorted punk bass, not quite. I’m not a genre hoe, I can roll with any sort of mash, I like gochujang with cheddar cheese, I’m into that shit. I’m on the third tune, Mirrors, and it also sports an acoustic guitar in the breakdown and the rest of the tune is pretty straight hip hop rhythmically. Make no mistake I don’t consider it breaking any sort of rules to mix indie rock and hip hop, there are no rules as far as I’m concerned. I listen to a lot of hip hop for a white guy but I’m not an expert on the genre, but along side of the Isaiah Rashad album which is a post addiction record, is there a post gangster move in hip hop where lyrics and rhymes are more personal??? I’ve heard personal rhymes before, and only time will tell but that’s what I hear. The seventh track sounds like a recycled Cure track and Mr. Paid starts rhyming over it hard, it’s wild. I find the blend of influences to be more interesting than the tunes themselves, sometimes it works that way. Indie rock is decidedly not my thing.

Music for 8/19/26!!! Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble

@@@ Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble: Folia: The Music of Egberto Gismonti (Sunnyside, 2026). I like this jazz label they release some interesting stuff. Oh boy this is a big banger, two compact discs totalling 1 hour and 25 minutes. This is a big band record that comes out energetically with interesting arrangements. I really like that there’s a kit drummer in this ensemble that’s pretty rare and special to hear a kit with all the horns, woodwinds, and other instruments going. This is an introductory tasting, I don’t have time for the whole sandwich cuz this bad boy is a big ass hero sandwich, so I’ll be peeping the first three or four pieces and then saying whether I will circle back or not on this record. At this point I will circle back because the recording allows you to hear everything going on here and the arrangements are fresh, I don’t know the original tunes that have been rewritten to fit this instrumentation but I like what I’m hearing. Oh my, there’s a passage where a pumping little horn figure is overlaid with another long tone one on the other side of the stereo field and it is so tasteful and creative. Another interesting aspect of this record is to hear Brazilian rhythms coming in this context, I’m sure it’s been done before but I haven’t heard it a bunch and it’s a different kind of swing than what you usually hear from a big band. Before there were massive stacks of guitar amps and thumping synth basslines there was the visceral power of a large acoustic ensemble and these guys really hit it, lots of dynamics, lots of energy, lots of voices kinda overwhelming you in a great way. Check this out!

Music for 8/1826!!! Overmono

@@@ Overmono: Pure Devotion (XL, 2026). Blurbed as an exciting new dance act out of London that I got to via this week’s Pitchfork’s 10 most reviewed albums of the week. The record is out on XL which to my mind is an art school indie/major kinda outfit handling large bands so this could quite likely be a very mainstream dance record. The first tune is uptempo with a psychotically looped vocal bit a little bit in from the intro. It’s got techno feels but also frat boy dance record feels so yes it does feel pretty mainstream beat wise with a lot of chopped business on top of these booty moving beats. Let’s see how this unfolds. I think they let some of these vocal chunks cycle a bit too long I feel like I’m a in a mental hospital hearing the loop 10 times in a row. For real and I love me a loop. I like the second track less, there’s some bloke doing some spoken word business, it’s okay but it drags down the energy a bit. I also don’t love the synth patch here. Let’s peep the third track, it could be the decider as George W. Bush would say. Thus far this third one is the best of what I heard, a thick bass pulse and a funky ass beat underneath either a falsetto gent or a woman the gender doesn’t matter it’s the vibe of the voice that counts. I like the third and fourth tunes way more than the first two, either I’m a freak or this is a poorly sequenced record, put the downer poet guy at the back of the record, nobody wants that in slot 2. I give this a solid B+, the beats are better than the rest of the arrangements, sometimes they hit a real patch of genuine funk and then other times it can be too repetitive or not up to snuff vis a vis the beats. Mixed bag.