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Jungle, Open Mike Eagle, Dinner Party, and more of my favorite albums from August 2026
I’m at the deadline for August, so I’m gonna make this one brief. Lots of good tunes this past month, too little time. I’m ready for fall for sure! Jungle – Sunshine Jungle always comes with the jams, and I love their singers’ old-school feel. Open Mike Eagle – DOOMED! I got into Open Mike…
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The Ninth Jedi
The kids and I just finished watching The Ninth Jedi. It was fantastic. The best Star Wars thing I’ve watched since Andor. If you aren’t familiar, The Ninth Jedi is an animated anime series from a Japanese production studio. Originally a single episode as part of the (also fantastic) Visions series, they spun this off…
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SML, Khun Narin, Nicholas Payton, and more of my favorite albums from July 2026
July has been HOT here in NC. Basically everywhere I guess is boiling. Feels like it’s hotter than usual but we probably say that every year. Anyway, lots of good music this month. Here are my faves. SML – Spontaneous Music Live This is just incredible. The album is only 2 tracks, but both are…
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Crackazat, Vince Staples, Boards of Canada, and more of my favorite albums from June 2026
My birthday month, Father’s Day, and summer solstice: June is such a great month, and there was lots of good new music too. I also got on some oldies too, like Steve Miller’s Fly Like An Eagle and Melvin Spark’s Spark Plug, both of which are classics. Sunny days are here indeed. Crackazat – SUN…
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Black Milk, Judy Bailey Quartet, Telehealth, and more of my favorite albums from May 2026
Another good month of new music. Tina Edward’s Jazz-ish Jazz Club continues to provide a great source of discovery to augment my KEXP/Spotify/internet pipeline. Black Milk – Ceremony One of my all-time favorite rapper/producers. Nine albums in. Seems like he’s just getting better. Judy Bailey Quartet – Colours Amazing album. Originally from 1976 but just…
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Flea, Aaron Shaw, Blu & Exile, and more of my favorite albums from April 2026
This month was a bit of a blur. I went to Istanbul for a week. I was sick for a week. Music still kept me company. There were some pleasant musical surprises for me, in particular the three albums mentioned in the title. Flea!? So many great jazz and jazzy dance-adjacent instrumental albums this year,…
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The thing about Marathon (the game, not running)
The new shooter, Marathon, is proving to be pretty great against all odds and conventional logic. Rather than the Goldilocks rule applying (it doesn’t here at all), it’s actually great because of how imbalanced and hard it is. But only if you have a good crew to play with (and I’m lucky enough to have…
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Mammal Hands, Alexis Taylor, Champagne Bubblebath, and more of my favorite albums from March 2026
This music update is way late. I’ll blame spring break and the nice weather here in North Carolina for keeping me away from my laptop. There has been no break from new music, though, and here is what I loved most in March.
