New Currents Gather: 2026 Tier 5 Summer Albums

Here's what was in play this summer, and what it might have meant.

The Lemon Twigs - Look For Your Mind! (2026) Tara Clerkin Trio - Somewhere Good (2026) Spencer Cullum - Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection V. 3 (2026) West Virginia Snake Handlers Revival - They Shall Take Up Serpents (2025) Twelfth Night - Fact and Fiction (1982) Squarepusher - Kammerkonzert - (2026)

and the updated Dr. Spin Radio list

The Mid-Year Top 12: Favorite Albums From 2026

Rounding up the results of the Disc Course for the first half of 2026, including discussion on:

Angine de Poitrine - Vol. 1 (2024) The Beths - Straight Line Was a Lie (2026) Craven Faults - Sidings (2026) Crowded House - Woodface (1991) Dakhabrakha - Alambari (2020) Fishbone - Stockholm Syndrome (2025) IQ - Dominion (2025) Luxury - Like Unto Lambs (2024) Thundercat - Distracted (2026) Titanic - Hagen (2025) Turnstile - Never Enough (2025) Scott Walker Scott 4 (1969)

Ways Through It: Albums Moving Toward Clarity

Wrapping up Tier 2 albums this time, with music from:

Maruja: Pain to Power (2025) Mastodon: Leviathan (2004) Stop.Drop.Rewind: Stop.Drop.Rewind (2024) Friko: Something Worth Waiting For (2025) Thundercat: Distracted (2025) Talk Talk - The Colour of Spring (1986)

And the playlist...

The Way In: Different Avenues of Listening

Another Tier 2 post! Including:

James K - Friend (2025) Ulrika Spacek - EXPO (2026) House of All - Inklings (2026) Gorillaz - The Mountain (2026) Dhakabrakha - Alambari (2020) Elvis Presley - Elvis is Back! (1960)

And the playlist:

Pressure, Pulse, and Release: a Tier 2 Roundup

More music from Tier 2, including:

Fishbone - Stockholm Syndrome (2025) King Buffalo - The Burden of Restlessness (2020) Craven Faults - Sidings (2026) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Gush (2025) The Beths - Straight Line Was a Lie (2025) Lunatic Soul - Lunatic Soul (2008)

And the playlist that never ends....until it does

Albums That Shouldn't Hold....But Do! A Tier 2 Breakdown

Lifting off with Tier 2, including:

Angine de Poitrine - Vol. 1 (2024) Clipse - Let God Sort em Out (2025) Igorrr - Amen (2025) IQ - Dominion (2025) Various Artists - Elders of the Begena - The Harp of David in Ethiopia (2025) Sufi Dub Brothers - The Return of the Sufi Dub Brothers (2026)

And ye olde playlist...

2026 Tier 1 Album Roundup: Expanding Signals in Human Space

The final set of Tier 1 albums!

Imogen Heap - Speak for Yourself (2005) King Sunny Ade - Odu (1998) Spidergawd - From 8 to Infinity (2025) The Cure - Disintegration (1989)

Check out the playlist - ITS ALIVE!