One Louder Magazine… RESURRECTED!

One Louder Magazine… RESURRECTED

Introduction
Album of the Week
Honorable Mentions
Missed The Cut
Addendum
On The List
Looking Forward To
Fine Print
About One Louder Magazine

Hey, it’s Thursday, time for the weekly blog!

I really don’t have much to discuss other than some prolate spheroid. You know, eggball. Ok, fine, football.

Let’s talk a little bit of NFL and Seahawks talk before getting to the music.

First up, I made a couple of “bold predictions” prior to the Week One games firing up… and some of them have already made noise. I can’t believe it! Anyhow, what were they again (in short):

• Los Angeles Rams DE Myles Garrett will be injured by Week 10.
  • He was injured in the first game of the year, has been placed on injured reserve (IR), and ended the game with zero tackles… only the third time in his otherwise illustrious 10-year career. He is eligible to return in their Week 6 match-up against the Arizona Cardinals.

• San Francisco 49ers rookie WR De’Zhaun Stribling would be the team’s leading receiver by year’s end and ROTY. These bold predictions were made during/after pre-season, but I called bullhonkey!
  • He was injured in the first game of the year, has been placed on injured reserve (IR), and ended the game with zero catches on zero targets on 21 offensive snaps total. He had surgery and likely won’t return until Week 10 against the Dallas Cowboys. Fat chance on either of those predictions working out for him.

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Week Two – Sunday, September 20th at 1:25 PM (Pacific)
Seattle Seahawks (1-0) at Arizona Cardinals (1-0)

The Seahawks are favored by -3.5 points, and the over/under total is 40.5 points.

I think this game will be closer than any of us wants. The Seahawks will be without starting QB Sam Darnold, plus the Cards just beat the Chargers… in Los Angeles… as -9.5 underdogs. Zoinks!

The Chargers defense isn’t the Seahawks defense, though, and I believe QB Jacoby Brissett will have a challenging time. I also believe the Seahawks defense will have a hard time containing TE Trey McBride. That dude is a mega-stud! [100+ receiving yards in two of their past four contests].

Seahawks 21
Patriots 17

Take Seattle -3.5 and the under 40.5.

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What a week! I was able to get through all of the albums released this past week, then dig into a crate of albums released earlier in the year. That said, there will be a massive dump of new goodies this upcoming Friday, so I dunno if that’ll happen again.

Anyway, Album of the Week…?

I’m going to go with none. However, the closest we probably got was with the following:

107,969 – Brian Fallon & The Painkillers – Not Bad For New Jersey

That said, I’ve loved just about everything he’s released (solo or with Gaslight Anthem). F’n love this dude’s stuff! So is it an AOTW, or simply another fantastic album from him?

Are you a casual fan who stumbled across this site? If so, be sure to SUBSCRIBE, as these are delivered every Thursday at 9 PM PT. With a subscription, you’ll be sure to never miss an issue!

😁 BE THE REASON SOMEONE SMILES 😁

Be sure to let me know what you agree / disagree with, etc… always fun to hear your opinions, too. Happy listening… and see you next week!

Cheers,

Troy
oneloudermagazine@gmail.com

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Album(s) of the Week** – September 11th to September 17th, 2026:

None.

Honorable Mentions (in order by “popularity”*):

2,581,731 – Sabaton – The Last Stand [10th Anniversary Edition – 2016] (CD/ DVD)

I’ve been listening to these Swedish cats for a long, long time (including the original release of this very album). They have a sound, for sure, and never stray far from that path. It definitely has some bad-ass riffage throughout, but it’s also pretty cheesy power/Viking metal.

This is the band’s 2016 album with four hella rad bonus cover songs tacked on the end: ‘Camouflage’ (Stan Ridgway, ‘The Big Heat’ 1986), ‘All Guns Blazing’ (Judas Priest, ‘Painkiller’ 1990), ‘Afraid To Shoot Strangers’ (Iron Maiden, ‘Fear Of The Dark’ 1992), and ‘Burn In Hell’ (Twisted Sister, ‘Stay Hungry’ 1984).

From Nuclear Blast: “Swedish metal Heavyweights SABATON have officially announced that on September 11th, 2026, their definitive blockbuster album, The Last Stand, will be re-released as a limited 10th Anniversary Edition via Nuclear Blast Records.

To do justice to this incredible milestone, the album will not only be released for the first time with all bonus tracks, but there will also be limited editions available featuring alternative artwork, along with live videos recorded at Sabaton Open Air 2016.

First released in 2016, The Last Stand conquered the world, cracking the Worldwide Top 10 and hitting #1 in multiple countries. The grand-scale concept album delivered SABATON’s signature, explosive heavy metal, unleashing fan-favorite tracks and setlist favourites such as ‘The Last Stand’, ‘Winged Hussars’, ‘Shiroyama’ and many more!

Pär Sundström commented:
“Who would have believed that 10 years could fly by so fast? We have so many great memories tied to ‘The Last Stand’, so we’re really happy to celebrate its 10th anniversary with the special edition vinyl and digibook with all the extras.

If you get your hands on the digibook, you’ll find bonus video footage that captures Thobbe – our guitarist – playing his final show with us at Sabaton Open Air in 2016 before stepping away for an eight-year vacation. In a way, it became his own “Last Stand”! Of course, none of us knew at the time that he’d eventually return to the band in 2024, which makes looking back at those moments even more meaningful. It’s a poignant chapter in our history, and the perfect thing to share as we celebrate the album’s 10th birthday.””

1,506,830 – Bonobo – Distance In Static

Bonobo is Simon Green’s stage name. He composes mostly instrumental downtempo electronica. It was just a nice, “warm” album that flowed smoothly throughout, very Thievery Corporation-ish… will have to check out more of his work.

From amazon: “”I want to reinforce this idea that you can be more than one thing,” Green explains. It’s that duality – of live artist and DJ, introspective composer, and club-focussed selector – that sits at the heart of his latest album ‘Distance in Static’, a record that is full of depth, detail, and emotion; both beautiful and banging; quintessentially Bonobo, yet pushing beyond the contours of what a Bonobo album has traditionally been.

A large portion of the record was created at Neil Young’s legendary Broken Arrow Ranch studio in Woodside, California – an environment Green describes as deeply immersive and creatively transformative. A pivotal track to emerge from these Ranch sessions was the enchanting “Fire on the Water”, featuring Arooj Aftab, who travelled down from her NYC base to record what became a breakthrough moment during the album’s creation. Evolving, almost accidentally, from a rough acoustic guitar loop recorded while Green was testing studio inputs one morning.

Elsewhere, tracks like “Drift” and “Me and You” perfectly encapsulate the album’s club-focussed leanings, with both quickly emerging as firm fan favorites in Green’s recent DJ sets. Buried within the ‘Distance in Static’ universe, there is also a sense that this record – and particularly the accompanying live tour – marks something quite monumental, too. It’s a moment of transition, a celebration of Bonobo’s 25 years, but also, perhaps, his last record in the traditional sense: complete with expansive guest features and a multi-year full live-band world tour.”

315,118 – Widespread Panic – Live From Austin, TX [Reissue – 2000]

WSP is a long-time jam-band. Good songs, fantastic musicianship! RIP guitarist Michael Houser :-(

From their bandcamp page: “On Halloween night, October 31, 2000, Widespread Panic took the Austin City Limits stage for one of the most cherished performances in the band’s history. It’s the classic lineup at full strength — John Bell, Dave Schools, John “JoJo” Hermann, Todd Nance, and Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz — anchored by founding guitarist Michael Houser, whose playing that night stands as one of the great documents of his career. Houser passed away less than two years later, and this set has only grown more essential with time: a rare, fully captured glimpse of the guitarist and songwriter whose nickname gave the band its name.

The show opens with Vic Chesnutt’s “Let’s Get Down to Business” before tearing into “Ain’t Life Grand,” “Space Wrangler,” and “Blue Indian.” The centerpiece is the sprawling “Driving Song > Surprise Valley > Driving Song,” a fourteen-plus-minute jam that critics have called the show’s tour de force and one reviewer flatly called “worth the price of the DVD alone.” Eleven tracks in all, capturing Panic at the peak of its improvisational powers in front of a Halloween crowd that matched the band’s energy note for note.

This reissue brings the legendary set back with all-new artwork from longtime Panic poster artist JT Lucchesi, whose work has become a fixture of the band’s visual identity for over a decade. The album is pressed on Rainbow Color Splatter vinyl, and for the first time ever, Live From Austin, TX is available on CD — putting this milestone performance in physical formats for both longtime collectors and fans discovering it for the first time.

Whether you were there in 2000 or you’re catching up decades later, this is Widespread Panic doing what they do best: turning a single night into something that keeps unfolding every time you drop the needle.”

107,969 – Brian Fallon & The Painkillers – Not Bad For New Jersey

Another fantastic album from the singer/guitarist of Gaslight Anthem! If you dig GA, you’ll probably dig this, too. It’s just anthemic “heartfelt” rock. Think ’70s/’80s Springsteen-ish… good stuff!

From Rough Trade Records: “Brian Fallon reunites with producer Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Green Day) for Not Bad for New Jersey, his first collection of original solo songs since 2020’s Local Honey. Fallon is best known as the frontman of The Gaslight Anthem (The ’59 Sound, Handwritten).

Featuring Brandon Flowers (The Killers), Phil Collen (Def Leppard), Lori McKenna, Donovan Woods, and guitarist Marc Ribot (Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Robert Plant).

Eleven tracks of high-energy, power-pop-leaning rock about underdogs turning setbacks into rocket fuel.”

72,443 – Green Lung – Necropolitan

Green Lung plays a combo of psychedelic rock and stoner rock with just a <pinch> of doom metal… I loved their 2019 debut, ‘Woodland Rites’, as well as their 2021 sophomore release, ‘Black Harvest’. Unfortunately, 2023’s ‘This Heathen Land’ was a bit of a letdown. Now they’re back! …mostly. I’d say that this one is a ‘tweener that lands between those first two and ‘The Heathen Land’. Pretty smokin’ – and a healthy return to form – but let’s get back on that mothership for good, boys! The ship is fired up and ready for blast-off!

From amazon: “The funeral bell is tolling, the ravens have left the tower – the long-awaited fourth album from London’s lords of the riff, Green Lung, is finally upon us. Necropolitan is also a grand celebration of the occult lore and heavy music scene of the band’s birthplace, the city of London.”

39,853 – CRIMEAPPLE & MichaelAngelo – Pedigree

Super-tasty, mellow-ish – even jazz-ish at points! – hip-hop album. This was great! Been enjoying Joram Mushinske (bka) CRIMEAPPLE releases as of late (solo and collabs – MichaelAngelo is producer Michael Anthony)…

36,780 – Buddy Miller – Buddy Miller

Buddy’s great. He plays a potpourri of alt-country, Americana, and folk. 74 years young and still out there crushin’ it. Good on you, man!

From New West Records: “Buddy Miller cleared out the kitchen to make room for a drum kit. What followed is his first solo album in fifteen years — twelve songs of soul, country, early rock ‘n’ roll, and gospel, made with a community of friends and collaborators that spans five decades of American music.

The album opens with “As Long as I Have You,” the early Temptations hit, anchored by the McCrary Sisters, who appear throughout. From there it moves through Julie Miller co-writes (“You Never Really Get Over It,” “Losers’ Celebration,” “Masterpiece in the Sand”), a late-period Dan Penn song (“Not Enough Time to Change”), and Jesse Winchester’s devastating “Lay Down the Burden of Your Heart.”

The guest list reads like a lifetime of earned trust: Shawn Colvin and Jim Lauderdale — both going back to Buddy’s New York country band of the early ’80s — stop by to sing. Dan Penn lends sly gravitas to the Smokey Robinson-penned “Don’t Look Back.” The War & Treaty deliver a stunning take on the Winchester track. Lee Ann Womack duets on “Stop Me.” Emmylou Harris, Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams join on the hymn-like “The Inner Sanctum of God.” And “Till the Wheels Come Off” — written about Buddy and Julie’s love by Ashley Monroe, Elizabeth Cook, Angaleena Presley, and Meg McRee — arrives as an act of communal devotion.

The core band (Fred Eltringham, Viktor Krauss, Tim Lauer, Steve Fishell, Fats Kaplin) plays with the understated nuance of musicians who have nothing left to prove. Five of the twelve songs are Julie Miller compositions, and the album closes on her words: “The greatest works of man are just a masterpiece in the sand.””

32,582 – Eli “Paperboy” Reed – Getting There

Holy crap, this was awesome! Eli has that old-school soul meets R&B sound… and fucking slays it! Infuse it with bits and pieces of Americana, blues, country, folk, and gospel, and you’ve got “Paperboy’s” latest release! This was a surprisingly fun album. Fun fact: I was today years old when I found out that dude… is a white guy!

From his bandcamp page: “On his latest collection, Getting There, Eli Paperboy Reed explores a more grown-up kind of love, contemplating what it takes for two people to go the distance through good times and bad.

Produced by legendary R&B iconoclast Swamp Dogg, the album is a joyful dose of timeless soul and roots music, but it’s also a deeply mature work of lyrical craftsmanship, one that reckons with the vagaries of love in the long term as it illuminates the myriad throughlines connecting soul, gospel, and R&B music with folk, country, and rock and roll.

Add it all up, and you’ve got an infectious take on the work that follows the fireworks, an ode to the extraordinary endurance of the ordinary, everyday love that makes the world go around.”

24,882 – The Well – …And Flames Ran Like Living Animals

This power trio plays sweet, trippy, psychedelic-doom metal. They are on my radar now!

From Rough Trade Records: “The Well, the Austin, Texas power trio, tap into a heavy, heady mix of psych, doom, and straight-up rock n roll. You can hear echoes of Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats, but the band make the sound feel fully their own.

…and flames ran like living animals is the band’s fourth full-length, and it lands with real force. The record moves across genres with ease, pulling together ’70s proto-metal, ’60s psychedelia, Southern sludge, and New Wave into something powerful, expansive, and seriously well played.”

12,539 – The Meffs – Business

Rad punk duo outta Essex. It’s ugly, raw… and yet, so beautiful! This is their sophomore full-length, yet my introduction to them. Definitely on my watch list now!

From amazon: “Essex punk duo The Meffs return with their second album BUSINESS, due this September via Frontiers Label Group. Headed into the studio with producer Dan Weller to create 11 of their most intense and politically charged tracks yet, blending frantic punk energy with sharp commentary on the music industry and modern life, BUSINESS captures the raw sound of their live shows while showcasing the band’s anger, vulnerability, and refusal to be pigeonholed.”

11,454 – Harlott – Exsequiis

Fucking classic old-school thrash metal from down undah, this shit is a ripper!! Throw them horns in the air!

From Earsplit PR: “It’s now 20 years since four teenagers from Melbourne assembled under the name HARLOTT – chosen largely because it would look good on a black T-shirt. After a scorching debut with Origin in 2013, the band carved their path through Proliferation (2015), Extinction (2017), and Detritus Of The Final Age (2020), sharpening their brand of breakneck, high-tension thrash with every release.

Now, after a six-year gap, Exsequiis marks the boldest leap forward in their career. Denser, harsher, and more confident than ever – a razor-sharp sound picture built on world-class guitar work, relentless momentum, and lyrics that cast a jaundiced eye over our bitterly divided world. The death of the gods, delivered by thrash metal artisans in the prime of their lives.

“Detritus… was a great experience in digging out sounds and ideas that we would have been too trepidant to explore,” explains the band. “For Exsequiis, we went further into that, but with the confidence that it would work as it had done before.”

Examples of this confidence rain down from the outset, with intro “Incipiam” acting as a guitar fanfare of sumptuous melodies that would make Dave Murray green with envy, cueing the haywire carnage of “Void.” Blast beats and trebly guitars add a black metallic intensity to “Messiah Simplex,” while the scampering riff patterns of “Vice Borne” give way to a mighty bouncing earworm of a chorus. This song, and many others, become a glittering showcase for the guitar solos of guitarist/vocalist Andrew Hudson and guitarist Leigh Bartley, another feature of the HARLOTT sound by now mastered to world-class levels, a perfect blend of precision and spontaneity.

Lyrics remain in the depressingly real world, the band preferring not to embroider some supernatural phantasmagoria but instead casting a jaundiced eye over our bitterly divided current climate.

Comments the band on Exsequiis’ lead single, “Trial By Liar,” “Truth doesn’t appear to matter anymore, and there aren’t any consequences for anything. There is a war on information raging, and we yearn for the day when judgement is met on these perpetrators.””

1,930 – HUG – HUG

HUG is a brand-new guitar trio featuring Gyan Riley, Devendra Banhart, and Noah Georgeson. They play (mostly) instrumental mellow-ish psychedelic folk.

From Rough Trade Records: “Frogs, condensed milk, the patter of rain. This is the new collaborative project from Gyan Riley, Devendra Banhart, and Noah Georgeson. Three eternal friends becoming children.

This is an (almost) instrumental album, made by three pretty well-regarded artists in their own right – who also happen to have known each other since childhood.

Noah and Gyan both grew up in Nevada City, which is the Crystal Capital of the United States, ground zero for all things woo-woo. You can kind of hear the influence of their upbringing in their music, but not really. What they’re doing here is something else. It’s playing. Someone once described this as a guitar trio record, without so many guitars.

They always talked about making an album together. Finally, the moment presented itself. The result is an album that feels like captured lightning.

The release is going to be supported by a video campaign, press in the U.S. and UK, and select shows in special environments to create experiences for listeners that aren’t like regular shows.”

0 – Various Artists – The Dungeon Tapes

This is a compilation album from the fine folks at Pelagic Records. It features previously unreleased tracks, rare tracks, remixed/alternate versions, and four cover songs, including ‘Soon’ (originally by My Bloody Valentine, ‘Glider’ EP 1990, performed by Pelagic United & Friends), ‘Angel’ (originally by Massive Attack, ‘Mezzanine’ album 1998, performed by The Answer Lies In The Black Void), ‘What Shall We Do Now’ (originally by Pink Floyd, ‘The Wall’ album 1979, performed by THOT), and ‘Time’ (originally by Hans Zimmer on the ‘Inception’ soundtrack 2010, performed by Telepathy).

Very rarely does Pelagic get it wrong… and it’s not here, either. Multiple bands weighing in with their own tracks, yet the cohesiveness was there… even if not all of the genres were. If Pelagic Records released it, it’s likely to be a winner, and that’s what we’ve got here. Great to hear these previously unreleased tunes!

From Pelagic Records: “With Pelagic Fest 2026 approaching, we celebrate the milestone of our 300th release with ‘The Dungeon Tapes’, a compilation of new material by various Pelagic artists including The Ocean, Psychonaut, Lost In Kyiv, Pothamus, Gösta Berlings Saga, Telepathy, Spook The Horses, Arms and Sleepers, Johan G Winther, Thot, Barrens, and The Answer Lies In The Black Void.

Exhibiting the spirit of collaboration is the opening track by ‘Pelagic United and Friends’, a project consisting of members from Spotlights, Rosetta, Failure, Shy Low, SOM and Hiroe, who have come together to record a version of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Soon’. Turning the shoegaze into spaciousness and ethereality into brutal impact, this classic track sees a strikingly direct, darker, and emotionally raw interpretation.

Following this is ‘Animal Proxy’ by New Zealand’s most underrated post-metal act, Spook the Horses. Dynamic, unpredictable, and deeply absorbing, the song unfolds gradually, building from subtle textures and restrained melodies into towering walls of sound. Through contrast and restraint, the crushing density of post-metal and the stark minimalism of experimental rock, ‘Hinterland’ is intimate and desolate, channeling cathartic intensity into an expansive vastness.

Next up is Lost In Kyiv with ‘Tróia‘, recorded during the same recording session as their upcoming June 2026 album “We’re All Going To Be Fine”. Blending soaring guitars, driving rhythms, and meticulously crafted electronic textures, the French quartet embraces a darker, immersive sonic architecture. With constantly shifting dynamics, impeccable attention to tonal detail, and unpredictable, evolving transitions, ‘Tróia‘ is a vast, hard-hitting romp of multi-layered climaxes and urgently controlled chaos.

Finishing up Side A are Barrens with ‘Behind The Glacier Trail‘, a track full of grandeur and emotional depth that was also tracked during the recording session of the Swedish post-rock quartet’s critically acclaimed 2025 album, “Corpse Lights”. Shifting from moments of quiet reflection into towering climactic release, sweeping guitars and shimmering synthesizers weave together into vast sonic landscapes, propelled by powerful, nuanced drumming. Expansive and luminous, Barrens create a rich tapestry of sound that is gracefully heavy and hypnotically captivating through each surge and peak.

Opening Side B is The Answer Lies In The Black Void, a project of Jason Kohnen of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and his wife Martina Horvath of Thy Catafalque. Their Massive Attack cover is a tribute to Jason’s musical mentor, who is terminally ill. A crowdfunding campaign was started for him named ‘Dead Man Sailing’; as a sailing man and living on his boat, this would enable him to make a final sail in his yacht across the Atlantic Ocean before he dies.

Drenched in the crushing weight of doom, with elements of ambience, electronica is backed up by the gradual rise of wailing distortion; The Answer Lies In The Black Void creates a suffocating density and fragile openness that expands this slow-burning revelation outward into a vast, transcendental soundscape.

Next up is Thot with a cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘What We Do Now’, blurring borderlands between industrial rock, post-metal, electronic body music, and darkwave; they create a collision of the organic and synthetic. From the claustrophobic melancholy of the first half to the visceral impact of the second, Thot captures the brutality and vulnerability within this disturbing track.

As a notable breakthrough in this eclectic collection, Arms and Sleepers step in with ‘I S L A’, signaling a shift in the album. Within warm analog synth textures that drift alongside crisp digital beats is emotional subtlety and understated, yet deeply textured movement. Tactile and alive, with carefully sculpted digital layers, Arms and Sleepers use mood and momentum to guide listeners through dream and memory, balancing a reflective, melancholic tone with warmth and clarity.

Taking their song ‘Origins’, Psychonaut delivers a remix that retains the intellectual searching and physical tension, whilst allowing the track to delve into chaotic, propulsive electronica. Full of jarring touches, shifting dynamics and expansive movement, this remix emphasises the weight and transcendence of the original track and distorts it further into synthetic psychedelia. Spacious textures, hypnotic repetition and a richly layered soundscape build in intensity until it comes apart at the seams.

Completing Side B are Gösta Berlings Saga with ‘Fragment III’, a track that moves with architectural precision. Keyboards act as a harmonic anchor and exploratory engine, weaving analog warmth and futuristic synth tones through the band’s layered arrangements. Rhythmically intricate, texturally expansive and seated in euphoric melody, this meticulous composition allows themes to emerge, dissolve, and reassemble within a consistently addictive groove.

Side C of ‘The Dungeon Tapes’ takes on a calmer, more ethereal direction, introduced by Pothamus and their reworking of the track ‘Heravis II.II (Let Light In)’. Ritualistic, immersive and charged with an overwhelming sense of the spiritual, this track unfolds slowly through droning ambience and chants of a cavernous mantra. Drawing listeners deeper into trance and creating a sense of controlled hypnosis, Pothamus uses meditative repetition to evoke the ancient and elemental emotion deep within.

Johan G Winther’s ‘String of Ants’ has the flavour of a Celtic dirge, sparse notes echoing in open space, distant drones humming beneath fragile melodies that breathe and expand. Finding an organic emotion within the electronic, ‘String of Ants’ has an atmosphere of introspective serenity, a complex melancholy told through an understated sincerity.

A bonus track for physical formats only comes by The Ocean, who reveal a first glimpse of the talent that comes with the band’s new lineup, following the departure of long-term vocalist Loic Rossetti and drummer Paul Seidel in 2025. New vocalist Enrico Tiberi delivers a stunning, intimately stripped-down version of a deeply reflective and delicate song from an older The Ocean album, to be revealed soon.

For the final song of ‘The Dungeon Tapes’, Telepathy delivers a cover of Hans Zimmer’s ‘Time’. Through the ambient textures and fragile echoes of this distinguished piece, Telepathy introduces the rise of swirling, hypnotic guitars; drums enter as a heartbeat, the music lifts and stretches out towards a crescendo of surging post-rock power, before resting again in the delicate resolve of the final notes.”

0 – Various Artists – Nigeria 80

In addition to ‘NIGERIA 80’, the front of the album cover also states: AFROBEAT, HIGHLIFE, JUJU, SOUL, BOOGIE, REGGAE. Over an hour and a half of banger tracks from 1980s Nigeria. This was a killer comp if you dig world/international music!

From amazon: “Strut presents Nigeria 80, the next essential chapter in the legendary Nigeria 70 series, diving deep into the explosive sound world of 1980s Nigeria. A landmark compilation extending Strut’s acclaimed Nigeria 70 series.

First-time official reissues of standout tracks spanning highlife, juju, Afrobeat, reggae, and early fusion sounds – from Victor Uwaifo and Nico Mbarga to Evi-Edna Ogholi and I.C. Rock. Highlighting the rise of Nigeria’s independent labels and pioneering artists (including Onyeka Onwenu), connecting classic Nigerian sounds to modern Afrobeats touchpoints like Starboy’s ‘Soco.’”

Missed the Cut (in order by “popularity”*):

1,256,866 – Bloc Party – Anatomy Of A Brief Romance

Popular British post-punk band. There were parts I dug, parts I didn’t care for, and everything in between. Overall, though, it’s not an album I’ll reach for anytime soon, if ever. But boy, those lyrics, woof – “…a narrative work examining a year-long relationship in intimate and often brutal detail…”

602,188 – Sylvan Esso – Ow ∞

Super popular, yet super shitty electropop duo. WTF do people hear in this band that I don’t? Am I too old? Ugh, awful.

431,829 – The Proclaimers – You May Offend

You know who The Proclaimers are! Scottish 64-year-old twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid who shout something about walking 500 miles… and now it’s stuck in your head! This album is kind of the same kind of music… adult-oriented rock. It’s not particularly “bad”, but unfortunately, it’s nothing memorable, either. Reminds me a lot of The Barenaked Ladies.

294,541 – Haruomi Hosono – Yours Sincerely

Haruomi is a Japanese folk-pop singer-songwriter. I love the idea behind the album (read ahead), but not necessarily the album itself. It’s a bit too esoteric for my taste.

From amazon: “Haruomi Hosono, the pioneering Japanese musician, producer, composer, and founding member of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Happy End, has “found his voice in a late career renaissance,” writes The Wire. His five-decade legacy continues to grow and attract new fans, and has been cited by an acclaimed list of artists, including Mac DeMarco, Cameron Winter, Ginger Root, Vampire Weekend, and Harry Styles.

Shaped by mid-century American music, Hosono’s work now reverberates back through a new generation of Western artists – a remarkable circular exchange. Yours Sincerely, his 23rd studio album and first collection of new music in over seven years, finds Hosono ever-pushing his exploratory songcraft: “I am now 78 years old, but from here on, I feel a growing curiosity toward the unknown music that my new self will create, while also embracing the music of my former self – as if I now carry two musical worlds within me.”

Across arrangements that span tender psych-folk and bubbling avant pop, Hosono contemplates the concept of a maternal force that envelops the Earth, “humanity’s understanding of the unconditional love possessed by those who give us life,” he says. Songs tap into a collective current, engaging the “deeply buried instincts – maternal compassion and mercy, things we rarely engage with in our daily lives.”

The work represents an artistic and subconscious shift. Several tracks feature female vocalists, such as “Note of Mothership”, a group-chanted expression of childlike wonder, “To a Wild Rose”, which delights with oceanside hums and prose, and on the elegant, marching “Figlio Perdute.” “This was a completely new approach for me,” he adds.

The unofficial title track, “Sincerely”, frames the legend in his signature mode, strumming, singing, playfully pondering the answer to a simple question. How do you express the Japanese ideas of omoiyari (compassion), jihi (??), or boseiai (???) in English? Hosono explains, “I searched, but no word felt quite right. Each came close, yet carried a slightly different nuance… I turned to a more familiar word often used to close a letter: ‘Sincerely.’” “It is in this spirit that I offer this album to you – sincerely, from the heart.”

59,982 – Ibibio Sound Machine – Chopping Mountain

ISM is a band that I’ve listened to now through several albums with varying results. This release, though, I think confirms my overall thoughts. I’ll let the band’s wiki page do the talking when they say, “Ibibio Sound Machine is a clash of African and electronic elements. The band claims their sound is inspired in equal measure by the golden era of West African funk and disco, modern post-punk, and electro.”

Their albums are definitely interesting and certainly worthy of at least one, if not repeated listens. While I’m not 100% sold on ’em, I certainly understand why people do like them. Will continue to keep my eyes on this band.

40,004 – This Is Lorelei – The Singer in My Band

This Is Lorelei is the solo project of singer-songwriter Nate Amos. It’s not bad, per se, but it doesn’t resonate with me. Perhaps leaning too country-ish for my taste? Possibly.

12,797 – Angela Autumn – Believer

Angela Autumn is the stage name for folksy / Americana / alt-country singer-songwriter Angela Mignanelli. The music is pretty solid, but it was difficult to pay attention to because Angela’s vocals were a bit jarring… to me, at least. I got used to them by the album’s end, but never liked them. Passola…

10,161 – The Tubs – Hard Life

Indie rock meets jangle pop from this British-based four-piece. Meh…

7,606 – Dreadnought – Wars Of Spirit // Wards Of Light

As with previous releases, Dreadnought continues to be musically interesting – post-rock/metal meets prog-rock/metal meets doom-psych rock – but the vocals kinda ruin it for me. I will still continue to check out future releases, but keep my (vocal) expectations tempered.

From Earsplit PR: “With Wars Of Spirit // Wards Of Light, DREADNOUGHT reaches beyond. Bending and re-coding the worlds of heavy music, they pull the listener along a journey of chaos, purity, and power. With this watershed release on Vesperian, the band find themselves at the precipice of the moment, hurtling into tomorrow with an epic that can only be described as “world-building metal ethera.”

Serving for many years as one of the best-kept secrets in music, DREADNOUGHT has always carved a space of their own. Across numerous releases traversing from progressive stylings through folk-infused extreme metal and entrancing atmosphere, the group finds themselves stepping into their most clearly defined and reinvented form with Wars Of Spirit // Wards Of Light. This album captures all of the grandeur, the embattled struggle, and the heart of what can only otherwise be found in timeless epics of video gaming, or other imagined elseworlds.

Where previous records unfolded across vast, demanding terrain, Wars Of Spirit // Wards Of Light finds DREADNOUGHT at their most focused — sharper, more immediate, yet no less singular. Cover art by Eisner Award-winning artist Christian Ward, whose psychedelic, neon-charged visual language feels like the only adequate counterpart to the music.”

5,936 – The Fierce & The Dead – Regional Theatre

Yeah, these guys are interesting, but I’m just not sure if I’ve caught on with them or not yet. It’s a ‘tweener release that kinda sorta sounds like if The Pixies and/or QOTSA became a post-rock/metal band, if that makes sense. I also get The Cure/Robert Smith vibes, too. It’s ok, I suppose, and perhaps I’ll keep my eyes on ’em, but I’m not bowled over with excitement, either.

From their bandcamp page: “The Fierce & The Dead were formed 15 years ago in London. Originally an instrumental band, in recent years bassist Kevin Feazey has taken on the role of lead vocalist, adding a new dimension to the band’s sound. They mix in elements from psychedelic rock, old metal records, post-rock, progressive rock, broken analogue synths, and shoegaze.”

4,424 – Cartilage – Opening Altar

I’m not a fan of grindcore – or “gore metal” as they call it – and this album does not change my mind. I’ll go a step further and say that the snare sound on this album rivals that of Metallica’s ‘St. Anger’. Yup, sounds like dude is playing a trash can and cardboard drum set. This is putrid in so many ways.

415 – Shrineburner – Hymns Of Despair

Forgettable sludgy doom metal album. They have an EP out already, but this is their debut full-length.

343 – Foreign Body – Libertine

Dodged a bullet… mostly. Foreign Body is a noise rock band… that sucks balls. Luckily I have missed all of their previous releases, but chance caught up to me, and I dreaded all 31:25 of this disasterpiece.

Addendum (in order by “popularity”*) – Albums that were released earlier in the year (or previous years) that I missed, but are worth mentioning, anyhow:

3,486,580 – Erykah Badu & The Alchemist – Before The World Blows – [August 28th, 2026]

I dig some R&B / neo-soul – and Erykah does have a smooth, soulful voice – but this album seemed a little uninspired and boring to me.

From amazon: “In the eleven years since her last project, Erykah Badu has gathered not conclusions but a series of existential insights. Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment exists within the tension between introspection and growth. Abi is Badu. Alan is The Alchemist.

Recorded over 18 months in Dallas and Los Angeles, the album is the inevitable collision of two iconoclasts – hypnotic, funny, blunt, deeply personal, and impossible to categorize neatly. Meditative and fluid, Before the World Blows finds Badu contemplating which parts of ourselves and our stories are worth protecting before the world breaks and fragments. Love, innocence, dreams, memories, womanhood.

The album unfolds in four movements, charting the progression of self through the prisms of love, art, and identity, inviting us to sit with difficult feelings. Passion blurs with desire, hope with grief, each song revealing another illuminating facet of the inner Baduverse.

Alchemist sent Badu a collection of instrumental beats, which she deconstructed and sculpted into tracks that felt uniquely hers, looping his warm, punchy samples with instruments from soft kalimba notes to immersive chords and drums. The result moves fluidly between soul, blues, funk, rock, jazz, and underground hip-hop, yet belongs entirely to none of them.

From 2024 to 2025, Abi and Alan road-tested the entire album live, performing in intimate, phone-free settings with Badu’s digital collective, The Cannabinoids, and Alchemist on the MPC, fine-tuning the tracks along the way.

Badu has always seen art as an inevitable, infinite extension of the self. At any point in space and time, that means evolution is inevitable, too. Before the world blows, it’s worth it to keep exploring. To have one more kiss. Before the world blows, it’s worth it to get to know thyself.”

1,361,137 – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Alien Metal – [August 14th, 2026]

I have been listening to (and liking) this band for some time now – this is their 28th full-length release – but this (surprise) release is completely out of left field, even by their standards! Normally they play psychedelic rock that’s pretty far out there, yet still totally “accessible”. This album, though… straight-up EDM. Throw in some techno and a little breakbeat hardcore, and you’ve got the latest from KG&TLW. Apparently, they have wanted to write and release an album like this for some time, but could “never get it right”… until a very late night in the studio… and (likely) high AF!

660,243 – UFO – The Wild, The Willing, And The Innocent [Deluxe Edition – 1981] (2 CDs) – [May 1st, 2026]

Giggity! Man, I love British hard rock band UFO! They wrote some of the most killer tunes and the soloing is insane! This is a post-Michael Schenker (guitar) release – he left to start his solo career three years prior – allowing Paul Chapman to take his spot. I prefer the Schenker years, for sure, but this release is pretty special. Two thumbs way up for UFO!

Disc one is the original album remastered, plus two 7″ edits and one alternate mix, while disc two sees the band annihilating the Hammersmith Odeon live in London on January 29th, 1981.

From amazon: “Continuing the acclaimed series of UFO reissues, The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent returns in a stunning 2026 remastered deluxe edition.

Originally released in 1981, this pivotal album captures the band at a creative high point, blending soaring melodies, powerful performances, and Phil Mogg’s unmistakable voice.

Newly remastered from the original tape transfers, the album now sounds more dynamic and detailed than ever, reaffirming its place as one of UFO’s most accomplished works.

This deluxe edition also includes a brand-new mix of the previously unreleased Live at the Hammersmith Odeon, recorded on 29th January 1981, by Brian Kehew, offering an electrifying snapshot of UFO’s energy on stage. Original 7″ edits of the two singles released with this album are included, as well as an alternative mix of album standout “It’s Killing Me”.

The set is rounded out with newly written liner notes by Michael Hann, featuring fresh interviews with Phil Mogg and Andy Parker, alongside a collection of previously unseen photographs from the era – making it an essential addition for fans and collectors alike.

The Wild, The Willing & The Innocent [2026 Remaster – Deluxe Edition]: 2CD digipak with O-Card with liner notes by Michael Hann featuring interviews with Phil Mogg and Andy Parker. Remastered and cut at AIR Mastering with Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London, 29th January 1981 concert newly mixed by Brian Kehew.”

424,374 – Kamelot – Dark Asylum – [August 28th, 2026]

There was some bad-ass riffage and soloing from time to time, but overall this was super-cheesy, “epic” power/symphonic metal, yaaaaawn…

From Napalm Records: “International symphonic metal legends KAMELOT—renowned for their infectious melodies, cinematic storytelling, and electrifying live performances—return with their haunting new album Dark Asylum, arriving August 28, 2026 via Napalm Records. Now 14 albums deep into a genre-defining career—including Haven (#1 Billboard Hard Rock), The Shadow Theory (#2 Billboard Hard Rock, #1 Amazon Hard Rock & Metal), and most recently The Awakening (#2 Billboard Hard Rock and Top 10 on the German charts)—the band continues to stand as a commanding force in modern metal after more than three decades.

Set within a shadowed Victorian-era world, Dark Asylum invites listeners beyond the gates of RavenHill Asylum—an imposing institution once built as a grand cathedral, now repurposed into a place where science, faith, and madness uneasily coexist. Candlelight trembles along towering arches and cold stone corridors as whispers echo through its halls, and behind every door lies a fragment of truth waiting to be uncovered. Identity fractures, reality bends, and control slips into unseen hands, guiding its central figure through a descent into psychological darkness that ultimately leads toward transformation… and perhaps sanctuary.

Longtime KAMELOT producer Sascha Paeth returns to helm the album, also contributing additional guitars, alongside Jacob Hansen, who oversees mixing and mastering.

KAMELOT expands its atmospheric reach on Dark Asylum, diving deeper into theatrical darkness while preserving the signature hooks that define their sound. The album features a striking cast of guest performers: Decessus frontwoman and current Miss World Chile champion Ignacia Fernández lends her voice to both “Dark Asylum” and “Sanctuary,” joined on the latter by Visions Of Atlantis frontwoman Clémentine Delauney for a powerful and dynamic duet; Lea-Sophie Fischer of Eluveitie’s violin on “Beneath the Moon (Tunglið),” is accompanied by the ethereal voices of Rannveig Sif Sigurðardóttir and Sólveig Sara Leupold. Additional choral layers from Billy King enrich the album’s grand, immersive sound, while Kiara Huber sets the tone with an evocative introduction on “Dark Asylum”.

From the cinematic sweep of “Ashen World” to the introspective depth of “Sanctuary”, and the layered mystique of “Ivy, My Dear”, Dark Asylum unfolds as a fully immersive journey, blending orchestral grandeur, haunting melodies, and theatrical storytelling into one cohesive vision.

Always committed to bringing their worlds beyond the studio, KAMELOT will take RavenHill Asylum on the road this fall with the immersive Dark Asylum World Tour, spanning North America and Europe. Once you step inside RavenHill… there is no turning back.

Will you find sanctuary?
Or will you wander its halls for eternity?”

420,195 – Lancey Foux – The Time Of Our Lives – [August 28th, 2026]

Lancey is a UK rap artist who sprinkles his tunes with a little bit of R&B inspiration and a heavy dose of Auto-Tune. It was a rather forgettable album that can be passed.

From Townsend Music: “Lancey Foux’s eighth studio album, The Time of Our Lives, is out 28th August on his own label Cultcaine Records. Two years in the making – it starts with the maximalist, distorted UK rap sound that made his name, then turns more vulnerable and confessional, wrestling with whether the hedonism of his twenties was ever really fulfilling.”

311,614 – Ben Folds Five – Ben Folds Five [30th Anniversary Edition – Shelved First Attempt – 1995] (2 CDs) – [September 4th, 2026]

Ben Folds Five 30th Anniversary Remastered Edition
Ben Folds Five Shelved First Attempt

I have loved Ben Folds (+ Five) for as long as I can remember… but I didn’t get in on the ground floor. I was a late(r) bloomer. So this was my introduction to his debut album (remastered)… along with the previously unreleased ‘Shelved First Attempt’. Frankly, I’m not sure if dude has EVER released a bad album. He is a phenomenal piano-centric singer-songwriter who plays super-fun, high-energy music, complete with quirky lyrics and top-notch musicianship. I NEED to see him live at some point.

From Capitol Records: “The rambunctious debut straight outta Chapel Hill that redefined ’90s alt-rock! Available on 2CD with expanded liner notes & photos. The first disc features the newly remastered classics “Underground,” “Philosophy,” and “Jackson Cannery.” A second bonus disc features the long-awaited un-vaulting of the once-mythical, previously unreleased shelved first attempt!”

166,251 – Medium Build – King of Having Fun – [September 4th, 2026]

Whoa, this album was fire! Medium Build is the stage name for singer-songwriter Nicholas Carpenter. This is his sixth full-length (in addition to three EPs), yet my introduction to him. For shame! Really well-crafted and perfectly delivered songs. I shan’t miss any more of his releases.

From amazon: “Written in the heat of summer and recorded live with friends and collaborators, King of Having Fun traces the distance between the curious kid riding his bike too far from home and the grown man searching for relief in all the wrong places. Blending country, rock, and indie, the album explores friendship, freedom, addiction, anxiety, love, and the pursuit of feeling fully alive.”

142,530 – Jim James – Wowed Out – [August 28th, 2026]

Jim James is lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of My Morning Jacket. I dig MMJ and this solo album is pretty good. It’s just super mellow, really nice pace, good tunes. Really hard to pigeonhole it into a genre…parts indie, parts psychedelic, parts funky and soulful, and more…

From amazon: “The fifth solo LP from My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James explores the psychic fallout of the digital age. After unearthing a vast archive of music he’d composed for two major film-scoring projects in the early 2010s, James experienced a sudden rush of inspiration and transformed those fragments into an immersive work of soulful psychedelia. His first new solo album in eight years, Wowed Out arrives as a visionary new offering from one of the most adventurous artists in 21st-century rock music.”

133,305 – Immolation – Descent – [April 10th, 2026]

Growly Cookie Monster vox over the usual tired riffs and blast beats… frankly, this music just tires me, pummeling every sense down to nothing with the same crap over and over and over again… But, HEY – congrats on a lengthy (nearly) 40-year career! Don’t listen to me, though. Fans and critics alike are eating this album up!

From amazon: “One of the original vanguards of death metal is back! 38 years into their storied career, IMMOLATION returns with their 12th album, “Descent”.

Once again, long-time fans and unsuspecting newcomers will be confronted with hymns of darkness and fury, invoked by one of the most respected names in the genre. Constantly touring, constantly evolving, and constantly releasing flawless records, IMMOLATION’s unwavering dedication to extreme music culminated in the 2024 biography, “Into Everlasting Fire – The Official History of Immolation” by Kevin Stewart-Panko, telling their impressive development from their raw demos to their legendary 1991 debut “Dawn Of Possession” up until now.

And now, it’s the best time to descent into the sonic depths of IMMOLATION as their newest opus, mixed and mastered by long-time collaborator Zack Ohren, offers a muscular production that captures the band in its most fiery and brooding moments alike.

For the artwork, the band relied on Eliran Kantor (Testament, Kreator), who crafted an intimidating piece perfectly visualizing the aura of this opus. It would be too simple to deploy descriptions like “heavy” or “brutal”; on “Descent”, IMMOLATION excel in delivering death metal that stands alone with a unique and elevated voice.”

131,470 – Widowspeak – Roses – [June 5th, 2026]

Widowspeak is husband-wife duo Molly Hamilton (vocals) and Robert Earl Thomas (guitar). They play an interesting, unique blend of dream pop, country twang, and indie pop jangle. I was convinced – CONVINCED, I tell ya! – that I wouldn’t give two shits about this album. Lo and behold, I am now following them!

Excellent songwriting, and Molly’s vocals are gorgeous. I get Mazzy Star feels at times. Fun fact: Widowspeak is a play on words and can be thought of as either “Widow’s Peak” or “Widow Speak”. Another fun fact: yes, this is the band’s seventh studio album, yet my introduction to them. What the what?!

From amazon: “An album called “Roses” would be concerned with romantic gestures. Across the ten tracks that make up the seventh and newest Widowspeak record, intimate spaces and stages of love are captured with a nostalgic, Vaseline-coated lens. Candles burn inside red glass as lovers get close in a leather booth. Celebrity headshots gaze down like angels in a restaurant. Elsewhere, carnations are pressed in a black book, and dancers pull each other close.

Widowspeak is a band that riffs on big emotions without being too self-serious. The sweetness, even silliness, of an extended limerent phase that becomes as all-consuming as a pulpy trade paperback. Cars and their drivers serve as a way to talk about codependency. If music can simultaneously be naturalistic and noir, saturated and lush, that is Widowspeak. They’re a band that knows how to set a scene.

These songs use intimate moments to talk about deeper heartaches: the restlessness inherent in modern existence, waiting around for something to happen. Or feeling at odds with playing a role in your own life. “Roses” might be the most romantic Widowspeak suggest it can be the whole point. The light that illuminates the dark corners of a day, a life. A reason to keep going despite the pain it can cause.

Widowspeak are one of the most prolific and hardworking bands going, bubbling just under the surface. Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas are the core of the group and its songwriters, and they have honed their sound across sixteen years and an impressively consistent catalog. One of many bands to crop up in a fertile New York City music scene, they started out shuffling gear between venues now-since shuttered, and their practice space in Monster Island Basement.

Widowspeak is now a married couple, working day jobs in their own off-season. Robert is a carpenter, Molly a waitress. “Roses” is Widowspeak at its best, drawing on forever influences. The magic of the band is, still and always, the interplay between Molly and Robert in their two leading roles: her languid, textured voice and his visceral guitar playing. At the heart of it, their music is special because it is real: most of all for the people making it. Fragile and temporary, and worthwhile… like love itself.”

107,828 – Marmozets – CO.WAR.DICE – [May 22nd, 2026]

Meh. Forgettable collection of 11 alternative rock meets post-hardcore tunes. Passola.

From Townsend Music: “Marmozets have officially announced their third studio album, titled CO.WAR.DICE., set for release on May 22, 2026. This marks their first full-length project in eight years, following 2018’s Knowing What You Know Now. “CO.WAR.DICE. is an album reflecting on the state of our world and a vow to ourselves to leave this world in a better place. We may never make a huge impact, but we can only try”.”

93,242 – Lowertown – Ugly Duckling Union – [May 22nd, 2026]

It feels like it’s been a hot minute since we’ve had an album that could be nominated for worst release of the year, but I’ll add this to the short list. Makes me wonder if they even listened to this hot garbage before releasing it. Anyway, they’re an experimental indie rock duo. It’s their third full-length, but my introduction to them. Sounds like I dodged a bullet if this release is any indication of what came prior. <Puke>.

From amazon: “If you haven’t yet been introduced to Lowertown – the enigmatic band comprised of Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg – now’s the perfect time. It’s taken a few years for the New York-based duo to catch their breath: after teetering on the brink of collapse for years due to label disputes, creative frustrations, and an unhealthy attachment to their artistic partnership, the band was due for a reset.

Their new album Ugly Duckling Union – out May 22nd on Summer Shade – starts with a composed exhale from Osby, a symbolic moment that sets the scene for their most thoughtful, uninhibited, catchy, and eccentric collection of songs yet.

Ugly Duckling Union is a concept album based on the band’s own experiences of forging a community through their music. Duckling protagonist Dale and his companions band together to defeat LBH, a tyrannical media corporation set on separating and isolating in their pursuit of control.

The album’s physical packaging includes a handbook filled with lore and illustrated comics by Doctor Nowhere (Silias Orion). Beyond that, fans can dive even deeper with plush dolls and a playable Minecraft world inspired by Ugly Duckling Union.

Inspired by the conceptual creativity of bands like Gorillaz and the emphasis on the communal concert experience of Fugazi, Lowertown fuses online & in-person fandoms into one complete experience. Lowertown are perhaps best known for their affecting musings on the melancholia of youth, always captured with biting honesty. But on Ugly Duckling Union, that anguish is funneled through a more mature, detached, and humorous lens.

Weinberg describes their previous lyrics as “knee-jerk reactions,” compared to the more considered and self-aware writing of this LP. “Mice Protection” pokes fun at Osby’s tortured inability to make decisions, “Forgive Yourself” is a blunt yet compassionate meditation on shame, and “I Like You a Lot” is a rare Lowertown love song, detailing the physical sensations of infatuation.

Ugly Duckling Union was fully written, recorded, produced, and mixed by Osby and Weinberg, and that insular, hands-on ethic is something they cherish – and has never waned. Although Lowertown are the sole caretakers of their art, their new album title is a celebration of the meaningful community they’ve built. “Our home has been the people who make us feel understood, and the music that makes us feel understood,” Osby explains. “I feel like Avsha and I have just been two misfits doing stuff together, and I feel like this music is for people like us – it’s for the misfit toys.”

There’s a lot of freedom in being an outsider, and that’s ultimately what Ugly Duckling Union is about – finding and freeing yourself through community. And what could be more freeing, self-confronting, and funny than making a beautiful record with your ride-or-die, misfit-toy best friend?”

86,878 – Gary Stewart – One Track Mind – [July 17th, 2026]

We got some classic oooooooold-school country (and honkeytonk!) right here, folks. None of that polished country-pop of today, this could’ve been released back in the ’60s/’70s. That’s what I was thinking when I listened to this album.

Well, lo and behold, Gary Stewart died in 2003, and this posthumous release is a deep dive into his legacy. As y’all know, I am not a fan of (most) country music, and this release is no exception. That said, if I am going to listen to country albums, it’s going to be these old-school dudes. Classic country!

Not so fun fact: The day before Thanksgiving 2003, Gary’s wife of 41 years died of pneumonia. He cancelled several upcoming concerts and stayed home instead to grieve his loss. No one had heard from him in some time, so a welfare check occured. A few weeks later, Gary was found dead in his home with a self-inflicted gunshot to his neck. RIP Gary and Mary Lou Stewart :-(

From his bandcamp page: “You get hooked on Stewart. He’s like a damn drug.” – Roy Dea

“Previously unreleased, pre-RCA recordings by the once, future and forever King Of The Honky-Tonks. For nearly two decades, we obsessively scoured the vaults of multiple publishing houses along Music Row, and the endless archives of Gary’s closest friend, Tommy Schwartz, all in search of elusive performances rumored to exist. One Track Mind is Delmore’s third deep dive into the Gary Stewart legacy, which began with the Grandma’s Roadhouse LP in 2010.

One Track Mind finds Gary toward the beginning of his career as a songwriter—newly arrived in Nashville from Fort Pierce, Florida, signing first with Cedarwood and then Forrest Hills publishing. Working primarily with early songwriting partner Bill Eldridge, several tunes heard on this collection would be recorded by luminaries of the genre, including Del Reeves (“One Track Mind”), Cal Smith (“You Can’t Housebreak a Tomcat”), Jack Greene (“There’s a Whole Lot About a Woman (A Man Don’t Know)”), and Nat Stuckey (“The Snuff Queen”). But no one sang these songs like Gary Stewart.

Also included are a handful of stripped-down departures from the Nashville sound. Recorded in Gary’s Williamson County, TN trailer, “Beautiful River” is a gorgeous, solo ballad, complete with his signature whistling. Alongside it is a guitar-vocal demo of “The Snuff Queen” – sourced from a beat-to-hell acetate disc – that puts an altogether different country-blues spin on this early Gary classic. (The studio version of “The Snuff Queen”, was released as a B-side by Kapp in 1970, and later included on the 1975 MCA compilation LP, “You’re Not The Woman You Used To Be”). The LP culminates in a jaw-dropping, early recording of “Williamson County”, which is unlike anything Gary recorded before or since. A singular performance that needs to be heard to be believed, and almost unrecognizable from the polished version recorded for 1975’s Out of Hand, Gary’s debut LP for RCA. The whereabouts of the other songs Gary recorded that day remain a mystery.

What isn’t a mystery is that Gary sings every song here with everything he’s got. Whether you’re new to the powerful artistry of Gary Stewart, or a long-time obsessive, there’s much to love within these fully loaded grooves. Delmore couldn’t be prouder to have the opportunity to bring more Gary Stewart music into the world.

The digital / CD release contains four bonus tracks, including the complete legendary Motown session. Delmore released the first two Motown numbers as a Record Store Day vinyl-only single in 2018. Gary’s demo of the Four Tops classic “I Can’t Help Myself” (Sugar Pie, Honeybunch) is heard here for the first time, and all three are making their digital debuts.

Last month, a definitive biography, Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks, was published by Jimmy McDonough (author of the New York Times bestseller Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography).

Is the Country Music Hall of Fame next? It’s about damn time.”

12,108 – The Kairos – Kneeslappas EP – [March 27th, 2026]

Hey, fun album… and entirely too short at just 21:34. I wanted more! They list their music as indie rock-pop, but I thought it leaned in a more garage rock kind of direction… plus horns. Rad! The songs are well-written, and that singer has got a set of pipes on him. Fun album – yeah, I know I already said that; just (re)emphasizing. This is the band’s second EP. They have no full-lengths out… yet.

From Townsend Music: “Formed in 2017 in the North West of England, Liverpool indie-rock quartet The Kairos began as four friends – Tom, Sam, Owen, and Lewis – looking for a way to fill their time, unknowingly setting the foundations for something far bigger. Now firmly aiming for the next level, The Kairos are set to release their highly anticipated new EP Kneeslappas on 27 March 2026, building on the momentum of their breakout release and signalling their intent to push even further into big, bold territory.”

774 – Jim Nollman – Orcas’ Greatest Hits – [August 14th, 2026]

OMG, I LOVE this album so much!!!!! This dude went out on his boat and played music for the whales. This is a call-and-response album between Jim and these beautiful sea creatures. Wonderful, amazing, breathtaking…

From amazon: “Jim Nollman is a sound artist and author who has dedicated his practice to playing music with non-human individuals. Following his 1982 album on Folkways, Playing Music with Animals, Nollman established an artistic residency and community space at a cove in British Columbia, dubbed Orcananda after the orca residents that have dwelled in its deep waters for centuries.

Nollman and his cohort took a considered approach to developing sonic relationships with the orcas and other animals they encountered, always keeping a respectful distance as they found one another with their ears. Orcas’ Greatest Hits collects hydrophone recordings drawn from over 60 hours of interspecies collaboration recorded between 1985 and 2002, showing the playful ways in which Nollman engaged the orcas from the portable studio floating above their home. What we hear is the focused listening by the cetaceans and humans as they search out sonic space among one another, finding in that dialogue potential common ground for deeper understanding.”

From Guitar World: “His work was dismissed by scientists, but Jim Nollman’s playing was admired by orcas for years. Now he’s releasing an album of oceanic field recordings that capture his efforts.

Jim Nollman once wanted to be the next Eric Clapton. Instead, his guitar playing took a surprising detour – specifically, via a sea cove in British Columbia – as he piped his sound underwater to create 65 hours of whale song/guitar recordings.

Now he is releasing a compilation of these interspecies jams on Smithsonian Folkways, collecting together highlights of the tapes made between 1985 and 2002 at his Interspecies non-profit in B.C.

Here, in his own words, Nollman tells us what it was like to spend his playing career making music with whales…

My background is in theater music. Absurdists like Eugène Ionesco influenced me, so [before the Interspecies residency started] I’d already done music with other animals.

I didn’t enjoy playing on stage, so I asked a radio station if I could produce a Thanksgiving Day show. I went to a turkey farm and recorded with 300 turkeys. It’s still played all the time on American radio. I realised I much prefer to play in nature than on stage or on the road, living in motels. I just wasn’t made for that.

[When I set up the British Columbia residency] we decided we would play from after dark until about midnight, otherwise there was too much boat noise in the water. We didn’t want to compete with outboard motors.

It was pitch black; we’d have to keep the electricity off and play with a couple of candles. It’s a strange place to play music because you’re in the bowels of this cabin cruiser, and if the wind is up, the boat’s shaking and rolling.

After dark:
This one orca came around at night. I was really into primitive country blues at the time. I played a 12-bar blues riff really slowly with a very strong beat. This whale, I swear, whenever I went up to the 4, he came in right on the beat. It was shocking to me that that could happen!

I quickly realized that I needed a sound system that would let me hear the orcas as well as interact with them. [Fortunately] I was getting so much publicity, it was easy to get funding and attract recording engineers.

I had an underwater speaker and a hydrophone. When they’re about 100 yards from the boat, the orcas start echolocating, which is their way of perceiving distance and objects in their path; basically clicks. It sounds like giant woodpeckers, because it’s a couple of octaves below what a normal woodpecker does.

Deep blues sea:
I was playing a lot of country blues to the whales. I played James Brown music, and it was the best reaction I ever got. They weren’t impressed by human virtuosity – they didn’t need David Gilmour or Mark Knopfler. What they wanted was Jimmy Nolen, James Brown’s lead guitar player; they liked the groove.

In the beginning, I was playing my Peavey guitar, but I soon attracted the attention of a young guitar maker in Oregon. He built me what he thought would be the perfect guitar to play with orcas; I made a few changes to it, though.

He put on a triple-bucker, and it was too AC/DC, too thick. It wasn’t what I wanted to give the orcas. He used lots of brass – it was a heavy instrument. I gave it to a great luthier, Bobby Warren, and said, “Can you lighten this up a little bit, give me sustain, but also make it really clean?”

The triple-bucker was set into a solid brass cup built under the strings, so Bobby took the center one out. There was this hole about an inch between the two, and being in that brass shroud made a unique, beautiful tone. I’ve been using that ever since.

An orca researcher camped down the strait from us, and he’d come up for dinner sometimes. Halfway through the project, he said, “Those orcas that are coming to you – it’s a mother and her son. Most of the orcas don’t care about this music, but these two are coming to you every single night!”

The orcas are majestic, crazy loud, and in the key of D. Most of their calls are D to C to D. We’d have musicians start playing that riff, and the whales would sing it back to them. The musicians would get really excited: “I’m communicating with whales!”

In the last year, the mother orca died of old age. The son lost interest in us. I gave up the guitar.

I would always have to break the bubble: if you don’t play, they do the same thing. The whole point is to get them off of that D-C-D.

The record is all field recordings, exactly as it happened. I had the hydrophones about eight feet apart on the boat, basically starboard and port – sound travels almost five times faster underwater than above water. So eight feet apart, it’s like having one microphone.

I would duplicate it and then shift it up, EQing the bottom on one track and the highs on the other track, to get a fuller picture. It’s all mono. If people are going to like it, they’re not going to care if it’s Dolby Atmos. It has its own built-in allure!

And I swear that I don’t have a gun:
We played for them for eight years, and in the last year the mother orca died of old age. She was in her 50s. The son lost interest in us. When I moved to the island where I now live, I gave up the guitar and started playing mandolin.

The guy who made the guitar for me gave me a prototype guitar the size of a mandolin. I gave it to my luthier, who made it into an electric mandolin, and I’ve used that for the last 20 years, making music with different whale species.

I started playing with lots of dolphins – much higher pitched – and got into playing with beluga whales. They have this very different sound from the orcas. They’re much jollier and never stop talking!

I’ve had almost no luck with them, though, because everywhere in the Arctic, beluga whales are being hunted by native people or being killed in oil discovery. I’m a guy on a boat standing up holding a guitar; the beluga would never come close because they don’t know the difference between a guitar and a gun.

I had a hard time figuring out how to justify what I was doing all those years, especially to the scientific community. I went to several whale science conferences and sometimes got booed off the stage because they felt I was trying to humiliate them.

But I never called myself a scientist. In my 20s I thought I was going to be the next Eric Clapton. As it turned out, I did something very unusual.”

On the List (in order by “popularity”*) – Albums that I didn’t get to (yet) for one reason or another. Will (hopefully) get to them at a later date:

Only listing ones that made me take notice, not everything…

13,251 – Lonely Robot – An Ending

Progressive rock. This is the band’s sixth and final album.

From Burning Shed: “The final Lonely Robot (John Mitchell) album brings to a conclusion the conceptual threads that have tied all 5 LR studio albums together.

Mitchell comments, “With this album, I wanted to close the circle of the Lonely Robot universe and bring back some of the elements that inspired the initial writing process. I hope Lonely Robot fans find this to be a fitting epilogue to the most creative decade of my life.””

Looking forward to (in order by “popularity”*) – These albums will be released this week and should be in next week’s AOTW blog:

Looks like a MASSIVE week of killer releases – fuck yeah, baby!!

28,701,050 – MILEY – Bass Persuades

7,676,774 – Beabadoobee – Pylon

5,366,892 – Carly Rae Jepsen – Day And Night (2 CDs)

3,497,082 – Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts – Second Song

1,917,456 – Anthrax – Cursum Perficio

1,908,504 – Chaka Khan – Chakzilla

1,830,460 – Beck – Ride Lonesome

1,120,606 – Echo & The Bunnymen – Apples For Isaac

981,864 – Agnes Obel – The Meaning Of Flowers

491,238 – Orville Peck – Mule

350,065 – Roger Taylor – Violence Insane In A Beautiful World

218,313 – Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats – Shapes Of Midnight

183,455 – Rhiannon Giddens – Hope Is The Thing With Feathers

97,562 – Ozric Tentacles – Harmonic Mind

78,000 – Villagers of Ioannina City – Venceremos

66,407 – Jesus Jones – Twilight

5,717 – Jim Florentine and Don Jamieson – Terrorizing Telemarketers Vol. 8

4,418 – Violation – Underground Metal Vault: Chapter 1: The Anthology – Violation

2,942 – BEAR – Anhedonia

2,541 – Bees Made Honey In The Vein Tree – In Between Strides

2,083 – Saturna – Light And Shadow

671 – hijss – hijss

…and several others. Some that I am looking forward to and others not so much.

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Small print that’s normal size print:

*These albums are listed in order by “popularity”. Wait, what? How? By no means is it a measured calculation. They’re listed in order by number of ‘followers’ on Spotify. While it is listed by Spotify ‘followers’, the order would (most likely) be similar if looking at the number of ‘likes and/or followers’ on each band’s social media pages. Speaking of “popularity”, there is a bolded red number. This number (more or less) represents the number of Spotify ‘followers’ at the time of review.

**Album of the Week. No promises, but I will do my best to NOT include Greatest Hits, Best Of, Live releases, re-releases, etc. Even if these “new” releases include a ton of bonus goodies, multiple unreleased tracks, demo versions, etc, I’ll still (try to) hold off.

All albums are listened to IN FULL unless stated otherwise.

Some artists are quite controversial. My goal is to review the album on its own merits, not based on the history, beliefs (political or otherwise), police records, and/or anything else that could be considered “unsavory” of the artist(s).

(Almost) all albums are hyperlinked. I link in order by Bandcamp first, YouTube next, then Spotify last. This is so you can check out (AND PURCHASE) the album, if interested. I do and hope you do, as well!

Do you have any friends or family who might be interested in this weekly blog? If so, send ’em this way!

Until next week…

Cheers,

Troy