Staff Picks for May 2026
May 23, 2026
An offshoot of noise-gazers Lovesliescrushing, Astrobrite is more melodic and pop-oriented, but still often sound like they're being blasted from jet engines rather than speakers. Their debut album (actually recorded to four-track cassette in the mid-90s) is a near-perfect batch of forlorn melodies drowning in feedback noise and trippy effects. There's also a more professional-sounding studio re-recording called Super Crush, which also sounds nice, but the original versions on Crush are mind-blowing.
May 22, 2026
In May 2001, this industrial rock crew veered in a wildly different direction, amplifying their pop sensibilities and earnest emotions for what would become their last album for almost twenty years. Without the industrial clang and electro-aggression, they crafted one of the most heart-wrenching -- and underrated -- break-up albums of all time. Mostly mid-tempo and sometimes almost-acoustic, it's worthwhile for anyone who's ever been dumped.
May 21, 2026
After a tearful debut album that embraced the chord simplicity of the Velvet Underground and the guitar tones and slow-burning melancholy of Cowboy Junkies and Twin Peaks, Jess Viscius and friends returned with more heartache. A somewhat livelier, more fully arranged album -- but only somewhat -- it found our protagonist past the point of tears but seemingly resigned to loneliness. Consider it 11 gifts for the lonely-hearted.
May 20, 2026
Steve Miller had started to essay his classic sound with The Joker, but 1976's Fly Like an Eagle, released 50 years ago today, is where he took flight, creating his definitive slice of space blues. The key is focus, even on an album as stylishly, self-consciously trippy as this, since the focus brings about his strongest set of songs (both originals and covers).
May 19, 2026
There's a reason Turnstiles, released 50 years ago today, begins with the Spector-esque epic "Say Goodbye to Hollywood." Shortly after Streetlife Serenade, Joel ditched California -- and, by implication, sensitive Californian soft rock from sensitive singer/songwriters -- for his hometown of New York. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" was a celebration of his move, a repudiation of his past, a fanfare for a new beginning, which is exactly what Turnstiles was.
May 18, 2026
Even though Warren Zevon was on good terms with L.A.'s Mellow Mafia, he sure didn't think (or write) like any of his pals in the Eagles or Fleetwood Mac; Zevon's music was full of blood, bile, and mean-spirited irony, and the glossy surfaces of Jackson Browne's production failed to disguise the bitter heart of the songs on Warren Zevon, released 50 years ago today.
May 17, 2026
On their second album, released 50 years ago today, Rainbow not only avoid the sophomore jinx; they hit a home run. After replacing the entire band (except Ronnie James Dio) immediately following the recording of the first album, Ritchie Blackmore and the Rising lineup (Blackmore; Dio; Tony Carey, keys; Jimmy Bain, bass; and the late, great Cozy Powell, drums) had plenty of time on the road touring the first album to get the chops and material together for their second.
May 16, 2026
Dismissed as a Jeff Buckley ripoff, Jimmy Gnecco could never catch a break, even with a vast catalog and a highly devoted fan base. This debut -- no denying it is Buckley-esque -- still stands on its own, 25 years later. Heart-wrenching and theatrically dramatic, it's the sound of one man's unending pain and suffering. Under Steve Lillywhite's production, the ugliness of Gnecco's emotions receive an expensive polish, turning the nightmares into something enjoyably listenable and, at times, utterly gorgeous.
May 15, 2026
Sounding more assured of her various strengths than at any time since her startling debut, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott broke in several directions for 2001's Miss E...So Addictive, released 25 years ago today. At the same time, she's a sexed-up rapper demanding respect from men, a loved-up club diva leading the charge of rappers into the brave new world of dance culture, and a sensitive female spreading syrup over a few great ballads.
May 14, 2026
Happy 25th to one of R.E.M.'s most underrated albums. Lush, dreamy, and with those divisive Eno-esque atmospherics, it's still as charming as it was in 2001, moreso now that we know we'd only get 3 more albums from the crew before they disbanded. Singles "Imitation of Life" and "All The Way To Reno" are some of the catchiest in their catalog, while "The Lifting" and "Beachball" are just two highlights that help make this such a sunny escape.
May 13, 2026
Discovery Zone is JJ Weihl, the beguiling singer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist behind Berlin pop combo Fenster. Her retro-futuristic pop is playful, dreamy, and hypnotic. Check out "Pair a Dice" and "Mall of Luv."
May 12, 2026
Roy Ayers had long made his shift into R&B/soul by 1976's Everybody Loves the Sunshine, released 50 years ago today. His recordings of this period can be very hit and miss, and in this particular record, you get both. The title track, "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," is a quintessential song from the mid-'70s.
May 11, 2026
Upon the release of this album, 50 years ago today, the Ohio Players were at the pinnacle of their long music careers, which date back to the late '50s. This album produced the number one Billboard R&B single "Who'd She Coo." The rhythm arrangement and jazzy horn arrangement are complemented by a titillating guitar, colorful vocals, and a suggestive lyric.
May 10, 2026
This companion to this 2000 film is a not-so-hidden gem in Björk's catalog, but it might not get as many listens as her mainline discography classics. While the extremely depressing movie which it soundtracks is, at best, worth a single viewing (unless having your soul sucked out of your tear ducts sounds like a great idea), this short album is packed with repeatable delights, from the Thom Yorke duet to the grand "New World," there's plenty of trademark quirk and atmospheric heft in between. If you miss the hallowed Debut-through-Vespertine period, this'll take you back.
May 9, 2026
Georges Delerue's score to the 1990 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan cult favorite is something of a throwback, with its epic sweep and graceful romantic motif. But like the film, there is also humor, wit, and a sense of unexpected quirk that plays to director John Patrick Shanley's sense of offbeat whimsy.
May 8, 2026
Die Kreuzen were among Milwaukee's first apostles of the new hardcore gospel. Their first album is an essential document of Midwest bluster and fury on a par with early blasts from Hüsker Dü or Negative Approach. Though they later dabbled in moody metal crossover, their self-titled album is a relentless, unfiltered hardcore attack. Minute-plus blasts like "This Hope" and "Live Wire" thrash like a man electrocuted, with squalls of splintered punk guitar and the desperate beat of boredom-killing drums. This was their big bang before their molten core cooled.
May 7, 2026
Undoubtedly accomplished only after weeks at the computer (as the haggard faces and bleary eyes on the sleeve attest), this collaboration of Brighton-based producers (and friends) Cristian Vogel and Jamie Lidell consists of ten delightfully skewed songs mashing up P-Funk- and Prince-styled vocals into an electro-shredder similar to the one employed by Autechre and Oval. There's a lot to digest -- and perhaps a bit too much production in several spots -- for a collection of "pop" songs, but fans of the Skam label and the Mask series will eat this stuff up.
May 6, 2026
Czech group the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa started out making scrappy noise-pop before morphing into an electronic group influenced by ambient techno and trip-hop. Sadly out-of-print and difficult to find now, their first album is an all-but-lost shoegaze gem. Yes, it does sound a lot like Isn't Anything, especially the messy drumming, but the moments when the guitars become particularly overdriven elevate the music to a truly sublime level.
May 5, 2026
Atol Scrap features a full hour of some of the most intriguing electronic listening music recorded during the late '90s. Uwe Zahn's productions balance two competing sides of electronics with apparent ease. On one side, the warm and inviting; on the other, the relentlessly technical and complex. There've been plenty of producers who've excelled at either heavily processed rhythms or haunted melodies (think Autechre and Boards of Canada, respectively), but Atol Scrap documents the emergence of that rare artist who displays astonishing skills at both.
May 4, 2026
This 1981 set is what broke the band to a much larger audience in North America by wedding jazz fusion, crazy samba and funky disco.
May 3, 2026
Few albums have been so appropriately named as Aerosmith's 1976 classic Rocks, released 50 years ago today. Despite hard drug use escalating among bandmembers, Aerosmith produced a superb follow-up to their masterwork Toys in the Attic, nearly topping it in the process.
May 2, 2026
This 1971 date is a total groove-fest loaded with raucous horns, ferocious percussion (Tony Allen take a bow), rippling basslines in long, intense jams.
May 1, 2026
The Royal Scam, released 50 years ago today, is the first Steely Dan record that doesn't exhibit significant musical progress from its predecessor, but that doesn't mean the album is any less interesting. The cynicism that was suppressed on Katy Lied comes roaring to the surface on The Royal Scam -- not only are the lyrics bitter and snide, but the music is terse, broken, and weary.