April 2026 (part 1)

After a quick detour to take stock of the best releases from first few months of 2026, we're back living in the present with a collection of cool songs I've listened to this month and added to our April 2026 playlist. See below for eight blurbs about eight new(ish) songs!

Pan-American - “Entrance to Afterlife”
A glitchy, expansive standout from Fly the Ocean in a Silver Plane, a late-career highlight from one of the foundational members of the Kranky Records family and one of my favorite ambient releases of the year so far.

Avalon Emerson & The Charm - “Country Mouse”
Perennial Horse Combinations favorite Avalon Emerson’s Written into Changes has been in pretty frequent rotation in my home for the last month or two and I’m still finding new tracks to be thrilled by. Lately I’ve been all about “Country Mouse,” a propulsive banger buried deep in Side B.

Q1 2026 in review

Despite the continued erosion of the ethics, self-reliance, and grassroots community that drew me to independent music in the first place, there still managed to be a ton of great records released in the first few months of 2026. Here are some thoughts about fifteen of my favorites!

March 2026 (part 3)

Q1 2026 is wrapped up and we're ready to move on, but not before one last roundup of some cool songs, old and new, that I listened to in March. Parts one and two of our March posts are still available if you haven't already scoped those out, beyond that we'll just commence the blurbing:

Mammal Hands - “Window to Your World”
The opening track on the new album from UK instrumental trio Mammal Hands album is one of the cooler pieces of music I’ve heard all year. The slow build of the piano and sax lines backed by nonstop frenetic drumming, influenced more by techno than jazz, is intoxicating. The rest of the album doesn’t quite reach the heights of “Window to Your World” but is absolutely a worthwhile listen.

Sleater-Kinney - “Heart Attack”
Man I love Sleater-Kinney’s Call The Doctor, it's not something I revisit all the time but after seeing news of a new 30th anniversary remaster, I threw it on and was as engaged as ever. It’s definitely a favorite in their catalog for me, maybe second only to The Woods, with the closing track “Heart Attack” the single most impactful song they’ve ever recorded. 

March 2026 (part two)

Here's eight more blurbs about eight cool songs I heard this month, music from close friends and old French guys, jazz gurus and future pop art school freaks. Here's part one if you missed it, otherwise we'll get right down to it:

Del Paxton - “Another Heaven”
The three songs on Del Paxton’s new Dogeared EP, surprise released earlier this month as a split 12” with Chicago emo favs Retirement Party, are among the best work the band’s done in their thirteen years together. Featuring guest vocals from Ratboys’ Julia Steiner, the extended outro on the opening track “Another Heaven” knocked me out the first time I heard it (Dylan sent me an advance stream last year) and it still hits just as hard all these months later.

The Thinking Of The World Began Pounding In Our Ears The Moment We Hit Shore - “Walk Away”
A collaborative studio experiment helmed by ambient guy/Horse Combinations blurb getter Florian TM Zeisig, the self titled record from The Thinking Of The World Began Pounding In Our Ears The Moment We Hit Shore covers a lot of ground across 40 minutes, but most reductively sounds like if Dean Blunt tried to make a Broken Social Scene record. My favorite track on the album is the uncannily dreamy “Walk Away,” full of sparkling harp and wistful vocals from Róisín Berkeley and odd tape loops provided by Cal Fish.

March 2026 (part one)

It's me, I'm back and I'm here to tell you about nine cool songs. This time around they've all been released in the last few months, which isn't always the case but is sometimes. They're the first nine songs on the Horse Combinations March 2026 playlist, a work in progress until it's not March anymore, then it's done and it's time to get to work on April's. You get the idea, right? Here are some blurbs:

Okonski - “Easy”
The two Okonski LPs have been a go-to soundtrack for having people over for the last few years; it’s the right kind of vibey, smoky, late night jazz with enough texture and character to prevent it from fading fully into the background. The new one-off single “Easy” is a great addition to their catalog, sounding like a lost track from Galt MacDermot’s Shapes of Rhythm or something.

Pearly Drops - “Heaven”
I haven’t dug much into their other stuff but this new song from Finnish synth pop duo Pearly Drops is really good! [Guy who listens to too much TOPS voice] sort of getting a TOPS vibe.