{"id":11362,"date":"2026-09-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11362"},"modified":"2026-09-02T23:47:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T03:47:01","slug":"music-update-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/03\/music-update-august-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, August 2026."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">August was a monstrous month for new music in a great way, so much so that I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/keithlaw.bsky.social\/post\/3mu3bv7aeps2g\">a list of album grades on Bluesky<\/a> covering LPs that came out in July or the first three weeks of August, which was before we got new records from Mastodon, Russian Circles, Elephant Stone, Billy Strings, flowerovlove, Interpol, and Alabama Shakes on the month\u2019s final Friday. Anyway, as always, if you can\u2019t see the widget below, you can access the playlist on <a href=\"https:\/\/music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/klaws-august-2026-music-update\/pl.u-NpXmWMpFg6659\">Apple Music<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/4HnZyOmKoDtoiT9fF9089J?si=db5804b7a80e416b\">Spotify<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe allow=\"autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"450\" style=\"width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;border-radius:10px;\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/us\/playlist\/klaws-august-2026-music-update\/pl.u-NpXmWMpFg6659\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Afghan Whigs \u2013 House of I.<\/strong> The Whigs sound as good as ever, with their latest album, <em>Soft Control<\/em>, maybe their best yet, at least rivaling 2017\u2019s <em>In Spades<\/em>, and up there with <em>Gentlemen<\/em> from the band\u2019s first incarnation. This song and \u201cLoose Talk\u201d were two of the best new songs I heard all month; I picked this one because of the guitar riff that opens it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kiwi jr. \u2013 Pure Michigan.<\/strong> The answer to the eternal question: What if Vampire Weekend made a song that wasn\u2019t twee as fuck? Anyway, this Canadian band\u2019s latest album, <em>Blowing Up<\/em>, came out on August 14<sup>th<\/sup>, featuring their usual blend of jangle-pop sounds and sardonic lyrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Do Nothing \u2013 Act Natural.<\/strong> This song reminds me so much of peak Wild Beasts, whose farewell album <em>Boy King<\/em> remains one of my favorites of this century, that I have come back to it repeatedly since first hearing it a few weeks ago. Do Nothing\u2019s sound is a similar blend of art rock and post-punk, but here with big, almost bombastic vocals. Their second album, <em>Friend World<\/em>, comes out on November 6<sup>th<\/sup>; they previously released another single, \u201cStars,\u201d that\u2019s a little blander and less catchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Squirrel Flower \u2013 Cleveland.<\/strong> Squirrel Flower is Ella O&#8217;Connor Williams, a multi-instrumentalist from Boston by way of Grinnell who has released five albums, with the latest, <em>Say a Prayer to the Gods of Getting Going<\/em>, among my favorites of the year so far. She blends indie folk with shoegaze elements, but the real star is her strong voice that communicates deep longing and sadness on much of the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>she\u2019s green \u2013 close your eyes.<\/strong> The final song on this Minneapolis shoegaze band\u2019s debut album is seven minutes long, but it\u2019s a stunner, calling to mind Slowdive and early Lush, with waves of sound washing over you beneath Zofia Smith\u2019s atmospheric vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Smidley \u2013 Love in Every Direction.<\/strong> Smidley is Conor Murphy, lead singer of the maybe-defunct band Foxing, who is set to release his second solo album <em>Murphy Horse<\/em> on the 25<sup>th<\/sup>. It\u2019s different from most of Foxing\u2019s work, especially their last album, and feels more like the kind of indie rock that was popular in the wake of the Killers\u2019 massively successful debut album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Keo \u2013 That\u2019s Me.<\/strong> Based in London but with roots all over Europe, Keo will release its first album, <em>Put A Smile On For Me<\/em>, on the 25<sup>th<\/sup>, with this song sounding like the Gin Blossoms by way of the Amazons with a lyrical reference to R.E.M. in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sailor Honeymoon \u2013 Click Click.<\/strong> This South Korean all-girl punk band\u2019s debut album <em>The Worst of Sailor Honeymoon<\/em> came out in August and shows plenty of promise, although it\u2019s pretty short (27 minutes) and gets a little repetitive over 13 songs. This song, \u201cI Wanna Leave You,\u201d and \u201cBad Apple\u201d are standouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ceremony \u2013 Dark Summer.<\/strong> I did not like Ceremony\u2019s latest album, <em>Tell Me Your Dream<\/em>, which has no real identity and features a lot of filler tracks. This is one of two tracks on the record I liked, along with \u201cOther Hells,\u201d but there\u2019s nothing here to rival <em>In the Spirit World Now<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DIIV \u2013 The Fountain.<\/strong> DIIV\u2019s critical acclaim has always outpaced their music for me; this song, from their upcoming fifth album <em>Zirp!<\/em> (due October 30), might be my favorite song by this Brooklyn indie-rock band, blending genres while maintaining a consistently strong hook in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Quicksand \u2013 Bring on the Psychics.<\/strong> The title track from this seminal post-hardcore band\u2019s third post-reunion album is one of its strongest, and the record as a whole might be their best. It\u2019s certainly their most cohesive, and stays true to their musical roots while tightening up some of the noise-rock elements more present in their first two records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Elephant Stone \u2013 I Got a Pill.<\/strong> Elephant Stone\u2019s latest album <em>ASHA<\/em> came out on August 28<sup>th<\/sup>; I\u2019ve heard three songs, this power-pop track, the tremendous rocker \u201cEverything Evil,\u201d and \u201cFascists Killed Yer Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll,\u201d which made NPR\u2019s best songs of the week list last week. I wasn\u2019t familiar with the band before this year, but they\u2019ve been around since 2009, and I\u2019m a fan of what I\u2019ve heard so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Olivia Tremor Control \u2013 Garden of Light.<\/strong> OTC was part of the Elephant 6 collective in Athens, Georgia, that also spawned Apples in Stereo and Neutral Milk Hotel, releasing two albums of jangly power-pop before internal strife ended the band\u2019s first run in 2000. Founding members Bill Doss and Will Hart recorded most of a third album before Doss died in 2012, and the band released two singles from the record in 2024 on the same day that Hart died at age 53. The band\u2019s final album, <em>The Same Place<\/em>, comes out on October 23<sup>rd<\/sup>, including this song and the just-released \u201cAdvice from the Oceans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Billy Strings \u2013 Burn the Other End.<\/strong> Strings won the Grammy for Best Bluegrass album in February, and he\u2019s already back with a new LP, <em>So Much for Goodbyes<\/em>, which came out in August. He also <a href=\"https:\/\/stereogum.com\/2509870\/billy-strings-joins-cryptopsy-at-his-ionia-freak-fair\/news\">hopped on stage<\/a> with the latest version of Canadian death metal band Cryptopsy at his own Ionia Freak Fair last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Wolf Alice \u2013 Hammond Song.<\/strong> How the hell is this a B-side from <em>The Clearing<\/em>? It would have been among the five best songs on the album, easily, maybe top three after \u201cWhite Horses\u201d and \u201cBloom Baby Bloom,\u201d and it\u2019s the best showcase of Ellie Rowsell\u2019s voice of anything from those sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>beabadoobee \u2013 Memories.<\/strong> This is the third single ahead of Beatrice Laus\u2019 fourth album, <em>Pylon<\/em>, due out on the 18<sup>th<\/sup>, which apparently is not a note-for-note cover of Killing Joke\u2019s final LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>flowerovlove \u2013 KISS KISS KISS.<\/strong> Joyce Ciss\u00e9\u2019s debut album <em>MINI SKIRT WARRIOR<\/em> dropped on August 28<sup>th<\/sup>, and it\u2019s one of the best pure pop albums of the year. Her ear for a great melody is incredible, and the album is littered with songs that should be all over pop radio, including this one, \u201cAmerican Wedding,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Your First,\u201d \u201cgirls will be girls\u201d (featuring Willow), and \u201cshady.\u201d I hate the term \u201csophisti-pop\u201d but it would certainly apply here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Iben \u2013 Dead End.<\/strong> A Norwegian singer who just released her debut album <em>Hulder<\/em>, Iben blends folk music, atmospheric metal, and morbid lyrics for an intriguing combination that somehow also sounds \u2026 not poppy, but potentially mainstream. I can\u2019t figure out if she\u2019s the same Iben who released a pure pop song a few years ago called \u201cChildish;\u201d Spotify has them as separate artists but I wouldn\u2019t swear those are different voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Heathers \u2013 Bite.<\/strong> Heathers is Heath Michael Thomas \u2013 there\u2019s an Irish pop duo of the same name, but this ain\u2019t them \u2013 who\u2019s released three singles so far this year, with his debut album <em>Awesome<\/em> coming out on October 30<sup>th<\/sup>. It\u2019s very lo-fi, DIY, garage rock; sometimes he sounds like he\u2019s singing with his mouth pressed up against a screen door. There\u2019s a real melodic sensibility here, though. Props to Jon Natchez from The War on Drugs for the rec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Soft Science \u2013 Fade.<\/strong> More power-pop with some shoegaze elements, reminiscent of Velocity Girl and Belly, from this long-running Sacramento band whose fifth album, <em>Sand<\/em>, comes out this Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Gang of Youths \u2013 Things Take Time.<\/strong> This one-off single is the Australian band\u2019s first new music since 2022\u2019s <em>Angel in Realtime<\/em>, which had a couple of stellar singles in \u201cThe Angel of 8<sup>th<\/sup> Ave.\u201d and \u201cIn the Wake of Your Leave.\u201d This feels like a lyrical throwaway, and singer\/songwriter David Le\u2019aupepe has said the song isn\u2019t really about anything. The music\u2019s fine, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ezra Collective \u2013 Jubilee Feeling.<\/strong> This Mercury Prize-winning jazz quintet will release its fourth album, <em>Here Because of Hope<\/em>, on September 18<sup>th<\/sup>. This single is the first instrumental and third single they\u2019ve released from the LP, after \u201cOnly Love\u201d (feat. Pa Salieu) and \u201cWell Organized\u201d (feat. Lila Ik\u00e9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jorja Smith \u2013 Dancing.<\/strong> I love Jorja Smith\u2019s voice, but prefer when she leans more towards jazz or classic R&amp;B sounds than EDM. Her latest album <em>What Are the Odds<\/em> bridges the gap between the two, with largely electronic beats but less frenetic tempos, allowing her voice to remain front and center, as on this Afrobeat-tinged dance track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jungle \u2013 Sunshine.<\/strong> The best song off Jungle\u2019s disappointing new album is the title track, which has a good enough hook to stand out over the sea of sameness on the rest of the record. There\u2019s no \u201cBusy Earnin\u201d or \u201cHappy Man\u201d to be found anywhere on the LP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Rakim, Kurupt, Masta Killa, &amp; Kokane \u2013 Goin Down.<\/strong> The first three MCs here have collaborated on <em>The Godbody LP<\/em>, which was supposed to be released on August 28<sup>th<\/sup>, and has now been pushed back to September 18<sup>th<\/sup>. This lead single is basically an average Rakim rhyme and some other dudes. By the way, there are a couple of new Rakim collaboration videos on Youtube that I think are AI slop \u2013 they sound entirely plausible but there\u2019s no media coverage whatsoever and the videos are just stitched together from old clips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>CZARFACE &amp; Frankie Pulitzer feat. Method Man \u2013 Mad Technology.<\/strong> CZARFACE is Inspectah Deck, 7L, and Esoteric, but more importantly, Frankie Pulitzer is Tom Hardy \u2013 and he can rap a little! He\u2019s better than Esoteric, at least, and isn\u2019t embarrassed rhyming after two Wu-Tang members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Royal Blood \u2013 Ten Over Ten.<\/strong> This heavy-rock duo\u2019s fifth album, <em>Dead Company<\/em>, comes out on November 13<sup>th<\/sup>, with this track the first single. It might be a sign they\u2019re returning to their heavier roots from their first two albums after <em>Typhoons<\/em> went for a little more funk and pop and <em>Stuck in the Water Below<\/em> felt like a lesser version of their previous work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sleep \u2013 The Morrisist.<\/strong> Sleep\u2019s newest album, <em>Hemispheres<\/em>, comes out today, featuring only Al Cisneros from the original lineup; guitarist Matt Pike is out, replaced by Bubba Dupree of the early \u201880s punk band Void, while drummer Jason Roeder has been replaced by Melvins drummer Dale Crover. I know some Sleep fans are pissed about this, but 1) Pike\u2019s public comments and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/05\/19\/1080581581\/can-matt-pike-face-the-music\">his embrace of antisemitic conspiracy theorist David Icke<\/a> are a serious problem and 2) this song is great, so just enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The HU \u2013 Second Face.<\/strong> <em>HUN<\/em>, the latest album from this Mongolian folk-metal band, is one of the best albums of the year for me \u2013 it blends a genre I know nothing about with a genre I know a lot about, classic heavy metal like that of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. It\u2019s no surprise that the Hu covered Maiden\u2019s \u201cThe Trooper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mastodon \u2013 Snakes for Dinner.<\/strong> Mastodon\u2019s latest album and their first since the death of Brent Hinds, <em>Marrow Deep<\/em>, is solid but unfocused; it\u2019s a collection of songs, some pretty good, including \u201cYour Ghost Again\u201d (which, I\u2019m calling it now, is going to get a Grammy nomination and maybe win) and this track. I only felt like one track was a miss, \u201cA Vampire\u2019s Demeanor,\u201d and thought the closer \u201cThe Three Fates\u201d was a strong finish that recalled some of Mastodon\u2019s more ambitious and longer tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sarcator \u2013 In Search of Oblivion.<\/strong> This young blackened thrash band from Sweden came up with its name by combining the names of two of their favorite bands, the early death-metal act Sarc\u00f3fago and German thrash titans Kreator. You can really hear the latter\u2019s influence in the vocals on this track from the band\u2019s upcoming fourth album, <em>The Ones We Follow<\/em>, due out October 30<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Flotsam &amp; Jetsam \u2013 The Edge of Nowhere.<\/strong> Flotsam &amp; Jetsam were probably best known in the 1980s for being the original band of Jason Newsted, who served as Metallica\u2019s bassist after Cliff Burton\u2019s death; and for their commercial track \u201cWading Through the Darkness\u201d from 1992\u2019s <em>Cuatro<\/em>. Unlike many bands from that first wave of American thrash, however, they never stopped recording, and I loved \u201cPrimal\u201d from their last album. Their newest, <em>Rats in the Temple<\/em>, seemed a little heavier to me, and thus less like the classic thrash sound I love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Russian Circles \u2013 Seventh Seal.<\/strong> This instrumental metal band\u2019s latest album, <em>Nine<\/em>, is heavy and proggy and pretty endlessly interesting, which is what I want from this kind of music. It\u2019s seven tracks, one of which is just shy of two minutes, with the others all 4:57 or longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August was a monstrous month for new music in a great way, so much so that I posted a list of album grades on Bluesky covering LPs that came out in July or the first three weeks of August, which was before we got new records from Mastodon, Russian Circles, Elephant Stone, Billy Strings, flowerovlove, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1495,359,1191,167,1127,852,787,261],"class_list":["post-11362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2026-in-music","tag-alternative","tag-hip-hop-2","tag-indie","tag-jazz","tag-music","tag-progressive-metal","tag-rap","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11363,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11362\/revisions\/11363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}