Despite being just past one-third of the way through 2026, we’ve already been graced with a full year’s worth of great music. Here’s what’s been keeping my ears busy lately.
How do I describe Robyn’s and Jessie Ware’s new albums in a PG-13 way? The kids today would say they’re “thirsty.” If you’re not a Millennial or Gen Zer, look it up. For this Boomer, both ladies are conjuring the spirit of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, i.e., feeling the flesh, while being driven by an irresistible dance beat.
In Robyn’s case, she makes it clear what she’s all about in the album’s title, Sexistential, and those beats are glitchy electro-pop. In Jessie’s case, she made the incredible – and thirsty – album What’s Your Pleasure in The Year of Our Disco 2020, stayed true to that formula with 2023’s That! Feels Good!, and makes the theme a trilogy with her new album Superbloom.
Both albums are guaranteed to increase your heart rate for reasons both musical and otherwise. Both bring older genres – electro-pop and disco – sound contemporary. And special attention must be paid to the track Ride on Superbloom, which makes clever use of a sample from the movie theme for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The kids would say that the video is a “thirst trap.”
Speaking of disco, Harry Styles’ album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. is not a disco album despite its title, but rather a sophisticated electronic-pop project. I can’t summarize it better than this review: “[The album is] delightfully strange, often lovely, and consistently fascinating.”1
I would also use the word “sophisticated” to describe BTS ARIRANG and add “transformative.” The terms “K-Pop”, “boy band”, and “idol band” no longer apply. They are a multifaceted, multi-talented singing GROUP, and compared to singing groups of the past, BTS is transforming what a singing group is. Their 2020 album Map of the Soul explored concepts of Jungian psychology, and for me, ARIRANG appeals to both the Thinking (identifying and analyzing elements of what is happening musically) and Feeling (a connection to the group’s collective spirit, values, and traditions) Jungian aspects of my psyche.
Much like the well-received 2021 blues covers album Delta Kreme, the Black Keys’ Peaches! is a raw, blues-centric covers project. Perhaps it’s just the choice of covers, but I prefer Peaches! It is closer to the kinds of blues songs I like, and as the kids would say today, The Black Keys served and ate, so let them cook.
Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson is one of my favorite musicians, and I can’t praise this new, previously unreleased live album enough, composed of highlights from five sets recorded in a Detroit jazz bar in 1960. These are impeccable performances from Oscar and his trio, and the pristine recording quality of these live tracks accentuates their mastery.
MISCELLEANY
I have written about ex-American Idolist Jacob Lusk many times, mostly in relation to his incredible work with Gabriels, who may be teasing a new album with their website only showing this.
His appearance at Moby’s return to Coachella went viral, and I was reduced to tears by the end.
I recently discovered this heavy metal/rock band, and they have an album coming out this summer. I am obsessed with Amanda “Eva Marie” Lyberg’s vocals, especially on this Duran Duran cover.
I have been following the unfairly undiscovered A.G. Sully since 2022, and I really like her new single.
Ray's Musings 
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