My 2026 Exploration

I've been working hard on 2026 recently, and have been checking out at least one 2026 album a day, but often I have to go through some other albums by said artist before I do so, that way I can properly gauge the albums and the artist's growth.  So it's been a crazy adventure just to get a proper 2026 chart going, especially since a good chunk of the most well-recieved albums on the website are metal and I've been trying to branch out into a number of musical territories beyond just metal.  So this is gonna be the place where I post commentary and reviews on whatever 2026 album I'm checking out.

Here are my current top 

1. Boards of Canada - Inferno (IDM, Downtempo): 100

2. Gorillaz - The Mountain (Art Pop, Electropop, Neo-Psych): 97

3. Heavensouls - Westside Trapped (Jazz-Funk): 96

4. Pat Metheny - Side-Eye III+ (Jazz Fusion): 96

5. Hemlocke Springs - The Apple Tree Under the Sea (Synthpop, Dance-Pop): 96

6. Panopticon - Det hjemsøkte hjertet (Atmo-Black Metal, Post-Metal): 94

7. Jane Remover (Leroy) - Status Update Music (Dariacore, Hard Dance): 94

8. Jill Scott - To Whom This May Concern (Neo-Soul): 93

9. Hallas - Panorama (Prog Rock, Hard Rock): 92.5

10. Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning World (Sludge Metal, Atmo-Sludge Metal, Post-Metal): 92.5

11. friends& - Folx (Glitch Pop, Neo-Psych, Folktronica): 92.5

12. Converge - Love Is Not Enough (Metalcore): 92

13. Underscores - U (Electropop, EDM)L 92

14. Genesis Owusu - Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge (Political Hip Hop, Neo-Soul, Rock): 92

15. Naked Flames - First Name Naked Second Name Flames (Outside House, Downtempo, Ambient Dub / Ambient Chillout): 91

16. Death's Dynamic Shround and Galen Tipton - Mobile Suit Gym Rat (EDM, Post-Club): 90.5

17. Immolation - Descent (Death Metal): 90

18. Damián Antón Ojeda (Letterstoyou) - ...Maybe Someday Became Today (Screamo): 90

19. By Storm: My Ghosts Go Ghost (Exp. Hip Hop, Electronic): 89

20. Inundaremos - Tanquemante (Chamber Pop, Indie Rock, Indie Folk): 88.5

21. Bruno Pernadas - unlikely, maybe (Jazz Fusion, Art Pop, Neo-Psych, Prog Pop): 87.5

22. CAVS - Sojourn (Jazz-Funk, Jazz Fusion): 87

23. Damián Antón Ojeda (Letterstoyou) - Moonlight (Emoviolence): 87

24. J McClendon (You Are an Angel) - It's Fine to Dream (Indie Rock, Emo-Pop (Alt-Rock, Pop Punk)): 86

25. Lip Critic - Theft World (Synth Punk, Digital Hardcore EDM, Industrial): 86

26. Slayyyter - Wor$t Girl in America (Electropop, Electroclash, Electro House): 86

27. The Lemon Twigs - Look for Your Mind! (Power Pop, Pop Rock, Psych Pop): 86

28. Nando Garcia - Lover Man (Indie Folk): 84

29. The Sidepieces - Darklight (Exp. Hip Hop, Southern Hip Hop, Glitch Hop, Epic Collage): 83.5

30. Sturgill Simpson (Johnny Blue Skies) - Mutiny After Midnight (Country Rock, Funk Rock): 83

First review:

Mild Sorrow Integrated (sueter7) - Todo salió bien en la sencilla Villa Quién

Genres: Indietronica, Indie Rock

Already familiar with the MSI works, I was a bit surprised to look this artist up on the RYM charts and find a new alias for a beloved new album.  It's already building up some love online.  I would've checked out the earlier seuter7 EP titled Diario, but since this is one of those "multiple alias" artists, I didn't really feel like that one EP would really prepare me for a whole new layer to explore, since this is the artist's first studio album under that name.  This album seems to musically be about bringing you through a journey into the complex yet simple and catchy world of modern indie's wonders, kind of like a tour.  The bulk of this is made up of the peppier side of indie, the kind of cutesiness you may expect to find in the power pop days of New Pornographers, but with some of that clever sophistication of those artsy Windmill Scene bands.  Throughout all the whimsy is a surprisingly progressive collection of layers that maintain simplicity alone while all going perfectly well together.  As a result of this, leading melodies and riffs may not be the most inventive, but there's plenty of creativity to go around, and a lot gets done even though they remain largely within indie constructs.  De Chungking a Mendoza and Miedos de Transporte are two of the best examples of how all these layers compliment each other.  In fact, I was having so much fun with this album that when I checked to see how long I got in the 9-minute closer, Todo Salio Bien, I was a full four minutes in but I thought it was only two and a half.  Yeahm, this refreshingly "springtime in the city" album was that breezy, and it really wasn't when the laws of nature are concerned.  Easily an album I would return to if I'm ever in an indietronica mood.

90, now my #18, between Immolation and Letterstoyou.

Static Dress - Injury Episode

Genres: Mall Screamo, Post-Hardcore

I'm totally new to "mall screamo," but it's basically just alternative screamo from what people are saying.  I went through their debut EP and first studio album first, loving how wild and nasty the EP was, and enjoying the debut album while acknowledging that some of the wild nature had been waned for a more typical sound.  Did this sophomore album being that back?  Only a little.  This album, like the others, shows that the band knows how to bring some brutality to the overused combination of emo and alt-rock and does so in a number of fiun and interesting ways.  The songwriting structures show nothing outreaching, but the energy pumps up each track, as well as some great if not sometimes wonderful usage of effects and riffs.  So, I'd say this third effort was better than the debut album, but not as good as the debut EP.

91, now my #16, between Naked Flames and Galen Tipton.

Today, after having gone over the Drake mixtapes and albums from start to finish over the course of more than a week (and in parts because there was only so much of later Drake I could digest at once), I'm going over the recent Drake trilogy, so I'll keep the reviews short.

1. Iceman

Genres: Pop Rap, Trap Rap

Seeing the time listed a 68 minutes, my initial thought was, "Is the only saving grace the fact that it's not 80 minutes?"  Seriously.  This guy writes way too many shit songs and not enough good ones, an unfortunate staple, maybe since before Scorpion.  But I wasn't entirely right about the saving grace bit.  Truth is, many of these songs had a little bit of personality.  The album in general wasn't "too quiet" like many of his albums since Views.  This might be made of softer soul-infused rap like usual, but even soft music has a pulse, and this album builds itself on pulses.  The instrumentation is really the saving grace, being miles ahead of many albums since, well, Views.  Of course, otherwise, it's still pretty typical Drake.  On top of that, it snot like Drake didn't already use many of these ideas before.  For the most part, if this came out in 2012, it would sound exactly the same.  So while this album is easy to tolerate, it shows no growth on Drake's part.

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2. Habibti

Genres: Alt-R&B

Speaking of no pulse, OH MY FUCK.  Children's lullabies are more enjoyable than this lifeless collective of pseudo-ambient drivel posing as emotionally-driven art trying to understand the sadness of the hip hop audience while making it clear that everyone involved is bored to absolute tears.  There are only two half-decent songs on the album, and everything else sounds EXACTLY THE SAME, even 75% like the only two decent songs but without any redeeming qualities.  No attempt at melody, no hip hop spirit of the classic Drake kind and absolutely nothing to get you going.  It's the type of album going for emotion and carrying none of it.  Makes me think, "are you so depressed that you're not even trying anymore?"  Read my lips: TAX WRITE-OFF.  He didn't even try to do anything right on this.  He's worse about selling out than U2, and this lifeless zombie too tired to eat brains deserves to slink back into the grave, because even sad people have their coffee in the morning.  I never thought my least favorite Drake album would be one of his shorter ones, but he managed it... he managed it.

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3. Maid of Honour

Genres: Pop Rap, Dance-Pop

Dance-Pop?  Does that mean this album has personality?  Well, the opener Hoe Phase certainly gave off that impression with its density.  Even halfway through the opener, it was Drake's most energetic release. :P  For the first few tracks, it seemed at least a little inventive, but a few tracks really didn't hit the mark.  One track even started out as lifeles as anything from Habibti before picking up and gaining two pulses halfway through.  But since Drake's never done a dance-pop album before, and he made at least a few good decisions on this one, I'd say this was a very good change in pace.  Unfortunately, some of his other songwriting tropes get in the way, sometimes way way too much.  But more experimentation over a shorter runtime helped a lot.

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