Best of 2026 so far (as of 6/30/26)

As I look over my list of the best of the year so far, I need to admit that these are not necessarily the best albums of 2026, but the ones I liked enough to buy a physical copy (vinyl is my preferred choice). I have been serious about music since I was a teenager (I’m 67 now) and have been writing about music for this blog since 2011. I still struggle to explain why I like a particular piece of music and often settle for the default that it just happens to resonate with me. So here are some albums that resonated with me this year (in no particular order). Most of the artists represented here are old favorites of mine, but I also got turned on to some new ones. Links are album reviews.

Jeff Parker & ETA IVtet: Happy Today, I was reminded of Parker this year due to Flea’s jazz album (also on this list) – Parker was all over it and sounded great. I have listened to a few Tortoise albums and some of Jeff’s solo albums (especially Suite for Max Brown) over the years, but this is the first of his albums to truly move me.

Kacey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere, I have a soft spot for female country singers – it started with Emmylou Harris back in the late 70s. I am a big fan of Kacey, and this album is billed as a return to her Texas roots and country music after a successful detour into pop. The album uses multiple Southern ingredients. It also returns to the John Prine-like humor of her first two albums.

Flea: Honora Flea accomplishes his goal of making a legitimate jazz album and mastering the trumpet. I am no jazz expert, but he doesn’t sound like an interloper or fanboy, but a musician successfully following his muse.

Pat Metheny: Side-Eye III+ Metheny is on my Mt. Rushmore of musical artists (along with Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Miles Davis), and so I take every one of his new releases seriously. I am particularly fond of the Side-Eye project that he has been exploring for the last few years – a collaborative, rotating-cast project featuring Metheny alongside emerging, talented younger musicians. It launched around 2019 and focuses on reimagining Metheny’s extensive catalog and debuting new compositions in a trio format. Well, Pat, being Pat, he couldn’t help but add some additional ingredients, and thus the “+” in the album title. Metheny explores his past (through new compositions), yet it feels fresh thanks to the brilliant young musicians he is collaborating with. Despite being 71, Metheny sounds youthful. This is becoming one of my favorite Metheny albums. I got to see the tour in support of this album, and it was great.

Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds: Mutiny After Midnight. Holy fuk, this is a great album.  It is country-funk, country, rock n’ roll, disco, and jazz-funk. The production is amazing: lo-fi Steely Dan – an unironic choice that works. Mutiny After Midnight is dirty like a Prince album and clever like a John Prine one. It has protest songs that are Dylan quality, yet nothing like him. Most importantly, it struts.  

Harry Styles: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally Albums I like fall into two categories: love at first listen and growers. Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, is a grower. First listen – vapid. Second listen – ok, there are some songs I like. Third listen – this is good. Fourth listen sold. The album is subtly arranged and performed. It is a slow burn, what used to be called a quiet storm.

Lucinda Williams: World’s Gone Wrong is Lucinda as a protest singer. Writing protest songs is a tricky business. Most songwriters’ attempts come across as ham-fisted (Exhibit 1: Jesse Welles). Lucinda told NPR that, from the beginning of her career, she has found writing protest songs difficult. Then came Trump. “Every day, there was some crazy thing that the president said or made a decision about. And these songs just had to come out.”

Courtney Barnett: Creature of Habit  I have been aware of Courtney Barnett, but I have never really listened to her. One of my favorite music critics, Steven Hyden, convinced me (scroll down to Recommendation Corner in his post) to give her latest, Creature of Habit, a listen. I listened, and I dig the combination of contemporary indie rock and 80s New Wave vibes.

Tedeschi Trucks Band: Future Soul is their sixth studio album, and it may be their best. There is nothing new here, but it is a reduction of their sound to a taut, muscular, heavy blues rock. Their last album, I Am The Moon, was a four-album concept album inspired by the poem Layla and Majnun (also the inspiration for Derek and the Dominos’ “Layla”). I loved I Am The Moon, but I appreciate that Future Soul is more succinct.

The Black Crowes: A Pound of Feathers. The brothers Robinson channel their inner Stones, Faces, and Zep on their latest, A Pound of Feathers, yet they sound like The Black Crowes.

Goose: BIG MODERN! For a jam band, Goose makes great studio albums. With each release, their studio craftsmanship gets better. It may be recency bias, but I think BIG MODERN! is their best studio album. It has an 80s vibe – Goose as a jam band version of yacht rock. I recently listened to a long-form interview with Goose frontman and primary songwriter, Rick Mitarotonda, and he talked about his struggles with anxiety and the stresses of leading a successful band in our crazy times. The lyrics on this album appear to be about that. Although Mitarotonda draws on his specific experiences, the emotions he conveys are universal, so I find the lyrics relatable. The album is almost a concept album on digital overload and overstimulation.

Heavy Crownz: Trench Baby Turned Farmer I only have a dozen hip-hop artists that I like. By “I like,” I mean I care enough to have purchased their CD or LP. I am only deep into one hip-hop group: Minneapolis’ Atmosphere. The point is, I am not one of those “I like everything except rap” musicheads that are common amongst my boomer colleagues, but at the same time, I am pretty ignorant of the genre. Because Heavy Crownz is a friend of my son, I have gotten to know him and was willing to check out his first proper album. I actually like it because you can smell the soul and funk, it has great stories, and Heavy’s flow is easy to understand and has character.

Reissues

James Carter, Cyrus Chestnut, Ali Jackson, and Reginald Veal: Gold Soundz (RSD 2026 release) Gold Soundz (originally released as Gold Sounds on CD in 2005) is a jazz album reimaging songs by the indie rock band Pavement. It features saxophonist James Carter, keyboardist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Ali Jackson, and bassist Reginald Veal. This Record Store Day release is more than a vinyl reissue; it doubles the content of the original album. I like jazz generally, but really like it when I am familiar with the tune. I love it when jazz players deconstruct a familiar tune. What the Gold Soundz band did was highlight the gorgeous melodies often buried in Pavement’s slacker/punk approach to rock. Once the melody was highlighted, the band riffed on it, sometimes from a soul-jazz perspective and sometimes from an avant-garde one.

Roy Hargrove: Bern is a live album by trumpeter Roy Hargrove, recorded at the International Jazz Festival Bern in Bern, Switzerland, on May 4, 2000, featuring five previously-unissued tracks. It was released by Zev Feldman’s Time Traveler Recordings as an LP for Record Store Day 2026 and later on CD and streaming services. Hargrove was a jazz trumpeter and composer who mostly played hard bop jazz, but also performed with hip-hop, neo soul, R&B, and alternative rock artists – for example, he is featured on D’Angelo’s Voodoo. This album is a well-recorded straight-ahead jazz quintet album that shows Hargrove and his touring band at the height of thier powers. Sadly, he died at the age of 49 of cardiac arrest brought on by a kidney disease in 2018.

New Gear

I did get a new piece of gear this year, a DAC for the Loop Sessions (MPS): Schiit Mimir (Balanced Mesh™ DAC, EQ, and
Preamp with Forkbeard™). I am shocked at how much it has enhanced my digital listening (CDs and high-resolution streaming via Tidal). The Mimir sounds great – it has a nice warm analog sound, natural bass, and a wide soundstage. This is the perfect DAC for a vinyl record/tube guy like me. For a $300 DAC, it punches way above its weight. Recommended by one of my audiophile buddies who understood my aesthetics and my ignorance of audio engineering. Audio equipment needs to be 50/50 art/engineering – Schiit understands that balance in thier audio equipment designs.

Looking forward to the rest of the year!