May 2026 (part 2)

We have once again returned from the blurb mines, face dirtied and hair tousled, to offer up some thoughts on a few recent and not so recent tracks that I listened to and loved back in May. Check out volume one of May writeups if you haven't done that already, otherwise we can get straight to it:

wishbone - “Spout”
An incredible heartwarmer, “Spout” opens with a total gut punch of a first line and doesn’t ease up from there. It’s a sincere, charming debut that has me expecting big things from these Chicagoans.



ear - “Ne Plus Ultra”
Call me Vincent van Gogh because I’m excited for more ear!

May 2026 (part 1)

We're back with more blurbs about some cool songs, new and old, that I listened to and enjoyed during the month of May!

Sega Bodega - “I Created The Universe So That Life Could Create a Language So Complex, Just To Say How Much I Love You”
Can’t really remember what convinced me to finally check out this Sega Bodega record from November, but the cinematic ambience that awaits is pretty excellent stuff once you get over their band name as well as the goofily romantic name of the record/title track. The sort of sweeping, just on the edge of saccharine atmospherics that made us all fall in love with Sigur Ros 25 years ago or whatever.

 

Krypton Tunes - “Limited Vision”
I was clicking around through some more recent releases from the crate digging gurus at Soul Jazz Records and came across Secret Superstar Sounds, which compiles fifteen tracks released in the late 1970s from a bunch of forgotten British bands that operated at the intersection of power pop and first wave punk. One of my favorite discoveries was this nervy polemic from Krypton Tunes, which reminds me of everyone from Wipers to Vampire Weekend to Talking Heads. It's so cool how there is literally infinite awesome music out there.

April 2026 (part 2)

It's been a few weeks since we last spoke so now there's a big ol backlog of songs for me to tell you about. Let's first wrap up April 2026 by discussing the nine songs not blurbed in our last post!

Josephine’s Next Million Miles - “Rug”
The new Josephine’s Next Million Miles record is so cool! Dense, strange production and cryptic lyrics delivered wistfully, I’m happy to announce I’ve found another “laptop twee” band to fixate on.

Yu Su - “One Place After Another (ft. Seefeel)”
Tons to love on the latest LP from Yu Su, especially this intergenerational collab between two official Horse Combination vibemasters. Six minutes of gauzy, ASMR’d out dream pop!

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!