It’s not just you, most TV sucks right now

Anguine De Poitrine – Vol II [Self Released 2026]

Prog revival with visual flair for the era of aura farming edits. It’s more Frank Zappa than Tool thank God, it means there’s a sense of humor. And it’s more Daft Punk than GWAR which thank God, means the mask schtick isn’t tied to subject matter. If microtones mean anything to you then by all means chat your local jazz fusion fan’s ears off about it. Me? I like that it makes me want to bounce off the walls like I’m a 12-year-old at a Skyzone birthday party. 4.0/5

Armand Hammer – Paraffin [Backwoodz 2018]

Cryptics cryptics cryptics. 3.4/5

Billy woods – Hiding Places [Backwoodz 2017]

Still funny, still a rapper’s rapper, still dealing in afro-pessimism. Kenny’s beats sound like a videogame soundtrack through the 9 circles of Hell. 4.0/5

(“Spider Hole”, “Red Dust”)

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Cosmo’s Factory [Fantasy 1970]

Famously John Fogherty was averse to the idea of rock stardom even as he and the band were eventual gods in their own right, preferring to present as someone still tied to his working-class roots. His code to the rest of his much-chagrined band was; no encores, no change in the setlist, no drinking or drugs while making music. Which is why for a band so reverent of the blues and prone to the occasional loose jam, letting themselves stretch out so muscularly and intentionally on “Ramble Tamble” – injecting keyboards and a slowed down groove until it’s an honest to god space rock trip before wrapping right back up into a blues riff – is a breakthrough rock star move that until then he wouldn’t have been comfortable with. That’s not the only shift. The good stuff’s still there, easy basslines, tasty licks, vocals that alternate between a squawk and what might be identified as a croon, but in the thicket of the usual covers and occasional Vietnam protest song is… what’s that…a country song…and it’s an original??…and…drunken brass in the finale?? They’ve reached their final form, and in doing so the palpable pressure that weighed on their earlier records is gone, leaving them confident and self-actualized in a way that they’d never be again. 4.5/5

Fcukers – Ö [Ninja Tune 2026]

29 minutes of Ambien’d out smooth-brain dance pop tracks with touches of dub occasionally. “Don’t be deep, just be hot” is how one tweet went. 3.5/5

Ka – The Night’s Gambit [Iron Works Records 2013]

The chess thing is more of a theme than a concept, allowing Ka easier access to imagery and word choice rather than any kind of narrative conceit. Which makes us focus on the rapper himself, someone obviously a student of Wu-Tang’s cinematic and occasionally quietly articulated lyricism, he was never going to break through in his 90’s heyday when the standard bearers were Raekwon and Ghostface. His training even tips over into parody like when he raps “Our father who art in heaven/Hollows hit my man” with such seriousness you’d think it was a Key & Peele skit. But the way his charismatic and steely baritone rides the low end, bass much more than drums, allows his noir-influenced imagery to shine and his inner conflict to make you feel something for him. Respect? Pity? Exhaustion? Something. 3.6/5

Slayyyter – WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA – [Columbia 2026]

The latest in our current era of Peak Girlie Pop is (like Chappell) a queer woman from Missouri and (like Charli) pulls from a sonic palette influenced by 2000’s electroclash that’s raved-up to emphasize vulnerability on the slower ones. But Catherine Grace Garner is also more aggressive, more toxic, more willing to perform narcissism in both its self-aggrandizement and shame to convey her damaged humanity over beats so big they threaten to overwhelm her. Which is good, noise like this needs a big personality to go toe-to-toe with it and she delivers. The formula is a classic in pop; Tension and Release. For every time she gets gay off tequila and blows a stranger in an elevator there’s a context-providing follow up on abandonment, and both make you want to move your body. On my favorite one, “BEAT UP CHANEL$”, she pulls a true rock-and-roll move and fuses hedonism with a dopamine hit. 4.3/5

Underscores – “U” [Mom+Pop 2026]

April Grey’s follow up to Wallsocket’s vignette-based tour of being trans in a small town is a cosmopolitan recitation on the forming and shattering of young love. The tender moments will get you, like when they share a vape and when she wishes him well on the denouement. Amongst the usual neurodivergent tickles the sonics have a bounce that splits the difference between danceable and listenable. It’ll probably be a holy bible to a heartbroken terminally online highschooler. 3.8/5