2026.30
Evan Shornstein & Celia Hollander: Unexpected Music II
The climate calls for some peace and this live performance, captured at a lovely-looking venue in Woodstock is just the thing. A duet matching piano with synth and more, it's a delight of ambient minimalism. The music comes in tiptoes and whispers, deep zones of quietude. Close your eyes and you're there, immerse yourself. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree :https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.31
Sightseeing Crew: Muffled Ears, the World Sounds Bad Quality
This new music out of London is a real tweener. Somewhere in between genres, although hard to pin down which ones. Somewhere in between instrumental and not. Kind of feels like a concept album but hard to say what the theme is. What is certain is that it's a bold suite of music, with strings and horns, moments of rockin', groovin', and plenty in between. A delightful specimen of art rock. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.32
Booker Stardrum: Close-Up on the Outside
Stardrum is a guy you'll find lending his talents to a wide variety of projects, including drumming for SML. His latest has some of the usual trappings of a solo drum album: textures of electroacoustic percussion panning your headspace. But there's some cool world-building here, too. A smattering of guests feature on the highlight tracks - ambient to experimental to exploratory - elevating the album in the process. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.33
Brian Marsella Trio: Play Zorn's Bagatelles
Marsella is in that "best pianist you don't know" category, an incredible and creative jazz talent. Here he's in trio with the equally powerhouse Trevor Dunn and Kenny Wollesen. They're tackling selections from the Zorn Bagatelles songbook, which is like both having guardrails and none at all at the same time. This set is adventurous in several directions: beautiful, chaotic, cerebral, inspiring. This is piano music at its finest. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #piano
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.34
Ivan the Tolerable: Chromophobia
It's that time again! This guy's putting out great music faster than I can get to it. This one comes from the I the T vaults, recorded in 2018 and revisited and rejiggered more recently, a tribute to the producer, Nigel Crooks, who has recently passed. A set of semi-simple motifs that evolve and mutate into pieces groovy, psychedelic, and, occasionally sublime. Excellent, as always. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2025.35
The Tomeka Reid Quartet: dance! skip! hop!
If you didn't know who the leader of this quartet was and you listened to this album, I think you'd be hard pressed to figure it out. The playing and interactions between the four musicians is democratic and fluid, like four top-tier athletes moving as a unit up and down the field. The fact that the cellist is joined by high-caliber players like Halvorson, Fujiwara and Roebke doesn't hurt. Their jazz is equally smile-inducing transcendence and edge-seeking exploration. The exclamations in the album title are warranted and then some. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.36
Wet Tuna: Vast
The latest from Matt Valentine and Co is a trip... almost literally. The album is a psychedelic wunderkammer full of Garcia Easter eggs, electronic hallucenations, loose indiejams, and just general weirdness. An all-around escapist delight. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.37
Fabiano Do Nascimento & Vittor Santos Orchestra: Vila
I thought you could use some good vibes for your weekend, so I'm bringing you this ray of sunshine from this LA guitarist. Here he pairs with an orchestra and this music is really all about the strings. Those on the guitar and how they resonate and jibe with those in the larger ensemble. It's really magic. There are some horns and reeds and vocals in there as well, and sounds from Do Nascimento's native Brazil and it all mixes to a totally relaxed *mood.* For lazy Sunday mornings or whenever else you might need it. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.38
Plankton Wat: The Vanishing World
Dewey Mahood has been making music as Plankton Wat for quite a while now and as a fan, my impression has been an excellent DIY, lo-fi psychedelic. His latest is surprisingly rich, with a full band of great talent from his Portland hometown. Its breadth stretches from classic rock to prog to surf, with horn-laden rave-ups and funk as well. There are trinkets of weirdness and psychedelia mixed in, too. Most importantly, it all kinda crushes. A welcome addition and expansion of the deep Plankton Wat catalog, or a great place to start. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.39
Zahn: Purpur
Some great rock music from this Berlin trio. There's plenty of great bang-your-head heaviness in here, but the album seems to evolve as it goes, exploring a variety of increasingly interesting sounds. You go from "yeah, this is pretty good" to "damn, this is sick" in due time. And ready to return to the start when you get to the end. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.40
Pan-American: Fly the Ocean in a Silver Plane
Mark Nelson says his latest is about travel, both the physical journey and the metaphysical one to the beyond. The music is a solo ambient guitar electronica that drifts and floats. There's a sense of journey, yes, but maybe even more so, the preparation and expectation of the journey to come. Music for airports, but also awaiting lift-off on a trip to the moon, or perhaps the waiting room for afterlife. It's beautiful. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.41
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Geir Sundstøl: Langeleik
The world is a noisy, fucked place and I've got just the thing to take you mind off it. For thirty minutes or so. Because what's better than one ambient pedal steel, but two of em. Here the London and Oslo-based musicians go weightless Americana with some
soul-soothing steel, as well as some other guitars and percussion thrown in. It's the kind of peaceful that'll take the edge off. Grab the headphones and zone for a little, you deserve it. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #pedalsteel
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.42
Dødsego: Reisen Vol. 1 - Beyond The Void
It's stoner metal! It's out-jazz! It's psychfolk! And least surprisingly, it's from northern Europe! Oslo, to be exact. The Norway seven-piece's new release is heavy in the right ways, wearing their myriad influences on their sleeves. Flavor notes include King Gizzard, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and plenty of others, but their own brand of Eurojam, for sure. Worth waiting for volume 2. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.43
Jeremy Bass: Cabin Songs
Sure, we often dig it complicated and dense around here, but, man, sometimes it's nice to just keep it simple. Bass' latest is simplicity at its most beautiful. A solo instrumental acoustic guitar album that doesn't overthink it for even a second. While his folk compositions and gorgeous finger-picking are anything but easy, the feeling it will give you is one of total ease. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #guitar
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.44
Tomo Katsurada & Misha Panfilov: Eternal Almost
Regular readers of the recommneds probably already have this one in rotation, but just in case... The meeting of the minds between the do-no-wrong Panfilov and the also-do-no-wrong Katsurada (RIP Kikagaku Moyo!) is as excellent as you'd expect. A perfect amalgamation of the pairs' individual aesthetics creating something new and excellent, extending far along the psychfolk and groovejam axes. No way you're not gonna dig this. No way. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.45
Work Money Death: A Portal to Here
Insofar as you might find a perfect specimen of spiritual jazz here in 2026, the latest from this Leeds band might just be the one. Equally hypnotic as it is ferocious, this album really takes you there. These four tracks cover over 50 minutes that allow the ear to zoom in on any component - horns, harp, that devotional rhythm section - or wrap around the entire collective with equally heady zone-out potential. It's a masterpiece, more accurately *another* one for WMD . Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.46
Ali & Charif Megarbane: Tirakat
This is Habibi Funk 034 and like the rest of the label's releases, it's definitely a delicious bit of funk. The pairing is of the trio Ali from Jakarta joined by the Lebanese Megarbane. The music slides easily along the spectrum between Arabic grooves and 70's-era funk and soul, sometimes finding itself far on one or the other, but mostly with the bopping somewhere in the delicious in-between. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.47
Zena: Temesgen
While we're on the subject of globetrotting funkiness, get a load of this UK duo who simply do not miss on their new EP. The bass-plus-synth pair bring their own brand of joyous Ethio-jazz. Their flavor of synth gives it an almost retrofuturistic sound while the bass leads the world-spanner grooves. Heady head-bobbers from a parallel universe. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.48
Natalie Jane Hill: Hopeful Woman
There's a beautiful vagueness in the cover art to Hill's latest album. It matches the music perfectly, a sparse folk not overly concerned with the details. You get all you need from her songs, voice, and the strum of her acoustic guitar. The other stuff - well-placed bits of pedal steel, flute, drums, harmonies - make the lovely even lovelier, but from a perfect distance on the periphery. It's all pretty great and a few tracks reach that next listen-to-that-again level of songwriting. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.49
Saturno 4000: Arrival
This Berlin-based group isn't necessarily a prog band, but their new album does have proggy bits to it. They're not necessarily a psychrock band, but they do get to outer space on occasion. They're not a funk band, but they do get pretty funky, somewhere in between Turkish grooves and Afrobeat. So, you know, just some more rec-worthy Eurojams. Their debut full-length doesn't even crack 35 minutes over 10 tracks, but, no worries, it's an all-killer/no-filler kind of thing. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.50
Studio Kosmische: Electronic Meditation For Inner Space Travel
Kosmische translates to "cosmic" and the latest album from the UK band certainly is. It's space travel as the title suggests, long stretches of weightless floating occasionally interrupted by alien encounters and other-planet weirdness. With multiple sonic threads woven throughout, it plays like a singular suite. A cosmic one. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.51
Matt Douglas: Repetition Sketchbook
There's much to bemoan about our current digital age, but there's something to be said for four guys getting together to jam in January and then by the end of March the pristine recordings are released for easy worldwide consumption. That's more or less the story here with the NC saxophonist joined in quartet by Chris Boerner on electric guitar, Cameron Ralston bass, and Matt McCaughan on drums. It's jammy jazz or jazzy jams but really it's just four dudes totally locked in. It's an EP and not very long, but it doesn't need to be. Magic. Enjoy!
2026.52
Sean Thompson's Weird Ears: Inner Principles
Thompson is, in my opinion, one of the more interesting guitar players to keep an eye on right now. Last year he released a jammy country record, was a principal jammer on the exploratory Shrunken Elvis and shredded nightly as the touring guitarist for Margo Price. His latest expands the pallette even more. It's jazz guitar of various types, from ambient to bluesy to essentially old school jazz fusion. Expanding on his brand of "weird" in the best way possible. Can't wait to see what's next. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.53
Cactus Lee: Lee's Dream
Your mileage may vary, but listen to the latest from the Cactus Lee, the sounds that come to mind are the sounds of the FM radio of my youth when my mom was driving me around: Cat Stevens, John Denver, Dan Fogelberg. It's a soft focus rock with a strong undercurrent of folk and country. It's comfy and makes you feel good. The songs are great, some hit-repeat worthy, and his voice is warm and easy. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.54
Chris Morrissey: Infinite Source of Heat
Morrissey seems to get stronger with each release, honing his unique sound. It's the kind of sound borne from the combination of a bass player's perspective, the synthesis of his songwriting influences, and an A+ band that's built for jazz improv, but is playing an inventive indie rock of sorts. It's propulsive and dreamy all at once. With a few extra special guests that indicate the kind of talent Morrissey rolls with on the reg. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.55
Yelena Eckemoff: Rosendals Garden
Eckemoff is an under-the-radar prolific Russian-American pianist that only puts out the goods. Her roots in classical lead to a certain intellectual flavor in her compositions and a unique creativity in her improvisation. Her latest is a musical ode to Sweden, in a trio with local talent... there's even a song for ABBA! It's more magic from Eckemoff and worth listening front to back. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.56
Ezra: Whippersnap
It's been less than a year since I featured an album by this group, but they are already back and continuing to hone their sound. It's strongly (and welcomingly) reminiscent of work put out by combinations of guys like Fleck and Meyer 2-3 decades ago. Bluegrass, jazz, and classical alloyed into a single thing, a very heady thing. Here a piano features prominently, balancing the mandolin, banjo, and guitar nicely. The main attraction here is in the writing, the compositions forging a maturing voice. Keep em coming! Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #bluegrass
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.57
Allison, Cardenas & Nash: Triological
At first glance, this might look like a no risk jazz quartet whose drummer didn't show, but they decided to play the gig anyway. But give it a minute or two and it reveals something much deeper. Without the rhythmic guardrails of the drums, the trio (bass, reeds, guitar) feels fully weightless and the conversational chemistry of the veteran players is easy to follow. Easy and quite pleasant. Playing all original music, they make it look and sound easier than it is. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #jazz
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.58
John Andrews and the Yawns: Streetsweeper
I love how Andrews named his solo effort the Yawns. His sound is so laid back, it's like the bare minimum that could still be called rock and roll. But it's definitely rock, with immaculate slacker vibes. What once felt like a hobby project for a musician often in the supporting role has become increasingly more its own awesome thing and the latest finds him at his best yet. The songs have a noticeable focus, they don't stick in your head, but rather leave you consumed with their overall laid-back energy. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.59
Memorials: All Clouds Bring Not Rain
Listening to this one through brings to mind an old favorite band of mine, Apollo Sunshine. Parts of it legitimately sound wonderfully quite similar to that early-aughts trio, but more of the connection is this UK duo's ability to smear together their far-flung influences into a singular theirs-alone sound. Unsurprisingly, I love the heck out of it and you probably will, too. And this is also a reminder that I'm always open for your recommendations, I listen to pretty much all of em, so never hesitate to pass along and I will do the same. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.60
Prymek & Sage: Shelter
When you navigate a forest you are moving through the spaces between the trees and in much the same way, listening to the debut full length from this duo is not so much navigating the notes, but navigating the spaces between them. Trading between guitar, piano, clarinet, harmonium and more, the music is sparse and delicate, the gaps between both infinite and finite. It's not so much the instruments as the sounds, layered on top of each other, inverting the spaces and making them quiet. A lovely meditation. Enjoy.
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.61
Maston & Greg Foat: Moving Images
Greg Foat is a repeat offender around here. His output is a ratified extreme of quantity and quality: how does he put out so much music and how is it all so damn good? The latest is a collaborative effort with Maston, 12 tracks and 33 minutes, a dozen short bursts of exemplar grooves. It's their modernized take on library music and you feel like you could sit in each piece for an eternity and never tire of it. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.62
John Zorn: Alea Iacta Est
Zorn's latest release is a masterclass in the kind of composing only he can pull off. The music moves between a range of genres and feels and energy barriers in a short amount of time, the four movements seemingly containing infinite mini-pieces. But the movement between them is the opposite of jarring, almost imperceptible. Of course, having top notch musicians to realize your genius helps and the band here, Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Ches Smith on drums, is as good as it gets. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.63
Dida Pelled: I Wish You Would
We lean a little New York City around here and today's pick is from an NYC artist I'm always happy to catch around town. Her latest album also features an impressive cast of NYC-regulars - Sullivan Fortner on keys, Tony Scherr on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. The record is a love letter to the blues, the set of standards and favorites almost out of Jorma Kaukonen's repertoire. But (in case the album cover didn't give you the hint) this is the sexy, jazzy blues of an Israeli-born, NYC vocalist/guitarist, a different kind of love letter altogether. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.64
Pearla: Song Room
At its base, the sophomore full-length from Pearla is a solo voice and guitar record. And the songs and voice are good enough, sparse observations on love, lyrics that you want to luxuriate in, that you don't need much more. But there is more: when it needs extra sadness, there's some pedal steel; when it needs a beat, there are drums; when it needs airy whispers of electronics, it's got that, too. And when it needs to be just a voice singing those songs and nothing else, well, there's plenty of that, too. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.65
Yvonne Rogers: The Button Jar
There are few young musicians I'm as high on as this NYC-based pianist. While she almost exclusively performs as part of a group, either leading or sidepersoning, her latest is a purely solo performance. And while she is undoubtedly a jazz player, the record fully transcends genre. It is as if we have been given a private peek at the inner-voice narrative of a musician's mind: beautiful, complex, focused for a while and then wandering expertly and back again. Piano music at its finest. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #piano
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.66
Adam Schatz: Civil Engineering
Schatz is a guy who is equally comfortable following a script, like when he's backing artists Iike Japanese Breakfast or Sylvan Esso, writing the script, as he does with his art rock project Landlady, and going completely without a script, as he does in this trio with bassist Carmen Quill and drummer Qasim Naqvi. His brand of freeform is an understated one, pieces unfolding in delightfully slow and quiet fashion. Moving easily and often simultaneously between sax, keys, and technology, Schatz creates something unique and compelling. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.67
Emily Nenni: Movin' Shoes
Nenni originally hails from Califronia, currently lives and works in Nashville, and recorded this latest album in Memphis. So, when I say it's got an old school sound, it's really three different old schools combined: Nashville country, Memphis soul, and a laid back west coast charm and wit. As with her previously rec'd releases, it's her consistently charming songwriting that pushes this into highest-praise realm for me. And maybe for you, too. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.68
La Vacanza: In Riva Al Mare
Don't look now, but is the album of your summer A debut EP from a band from Norway? This one feels more like "beaches of southern Europe" in origin, but no matter. This is 20 minutes of pop-funk perfection, bright sunshiney bass riffs and daydream vocals. Put this one on repeat on your portable waterproof speaker while you're poolside and let the grooves take you to mental vacationland. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.69
Ryan Blotnick: The Woods
On his newest release, Blotnick plays some great guitar and has written some wonderful pieces, but perhaps the best thing he's done is put together a band that gives the material just what it needs. The quartet, largely made up of indie rock touring band musicians, acts like a prism, refracting your standard jazz guitar music into a rainbow of sound. Helium-filled weightlessness to swinging grooves and more, the album providing a nicely flowing set. Enjoy!
#newmusic #MusicDiscovery #jazz
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.70
Evolfo: Of Love
The recs have been dominated by NYC faves recently, and why stop now? This seven-piece manages to sound like about 12 different bands over the course of their new album, often shifting sounds multiple times in a single track. To sum it up in words - psych, prog, classic rock in some combination - would diminish their music considerably. While the influences are there, for sure, Evolfo manages to sound like few others. The second guitar is a cosmic 12-string, there's a saxophone, the vocals work, and they've got the chemistry of many many gigs together. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.71
Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble: The Kármán Line
We always dig a good collab, but there are some names that pop up in the "featuring" slot and you just know it's gonna be some sonic gold worth digging. When it comes to anything jazz out of the UK, Leeds in particular, that name is Chip Whickham, the flute player that is a rec regular. Here he spins his magic webs once again, contributing to a mystical devotional sound that buries layers of rhythmic complexity under seemingly simple melodies. It evokes a 70's era where pop and jazz started to bleed into each other, ranging from zone-outs to deep grooves. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
2026.72
Jesca Hoop: Long Wave Home
Everyone has a favorite songwriter that they can't believe isn't a household name, or, if you're like me, many favorites. Hoop is definitely on my list, her songs feel like satisfying word puzzles, the across clues of lyrics that the clever and the intensely personal interlocking satisfyingly with the down clues of her sense of rhythm and melody. The new development on her latest is her taking on producing duties for the first time, bringing her unique style and creativity to the entirety. You can feel the crackle of her wit and worldview in every beautifully mesmerizing note. Enjoy!
Album links in LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/recommneds
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Jason Isaac