1) Mitski, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me” / Mitski opens her latest with a set of killer lines, and the album never lets up from there. This is a textured gem, worthy of soundtracking the year.
I'd never live in a small town
I’ve made too many mistakes
For where you gotta write your book early
Or it gets written up in your place
2) The Black Crowes, “A Pound of Feathers” / Truth be told, I didn’t want to like the new Crowes record (their second since 2024, but also only their second since 2010). Too much drama from the Robinson brothers, too little relevance—or so I thought. “A Pound of Feathers” harnesses guitar riffs and dirtbag blues that live close to the essence of rock ‘n’ roll. This is a hell of a ride, start to finish.
3) Ohyung, “Iowa” / The artist otherwise known as Lia Ouyang Rusli creates one of the first truly great ambient/electronic releases of 2026, an album that runs cool and bleeds warm.
4) Dawn Lundy Martin, “Instructions for the Lovers” / Martin’s 2024 poetry collection is gorgeous and fraught, somehow a wild and restrained testament to working through the varied loves that accumulate throughout our lives.
5) Elena Zhang, “Three Poems” for The Bulb Region / God, I love these three small poems from Zhang, each a little branch off a miracle tree bending toward light and reaching for meaning. (“The tunnel delivers your mother / into stars, breathless for a world that / isn’t.”