Best Albums of Q1 2026

Just realised I didn’t post ANYTHING here last year. But despite everything that is going on in the world, there’s still lots of really great new music. That’s at least a comfort...

Tried to get the list down to just 10 albums, but that simply wasn’t doable!

12 Best New Albums (alphabetical order)

Tatsu Akiba – Akiba Tatsu

Emmett Elvin – Optimal Eternalist

Craig Fortnam & Laurent Valero – Empty Vessels

Heavenly – Highway To Heavenly

Hen Ogledd – Discombobulated

The Leaf Library  – After The Rain, Strange Seeds

The Monochrome Set – Lotus Bridge

Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection – Vol 3

Sternpost – unworld.afterpop

Tinned Meats – Kilter

Whelligan – In Pursuit of Inchoate Visions of Beauty

Bobby Zodiac and The Clairvoyants – !

Best Compilation (of new stuff)

Railcard – Railcard

Best Archival Releases

Flaming Star – In the Piper’s Magical Kingdom

Flood – A New Way Of Living

Heaven – The Invisible City of Kartesh

The Don Rendell / Ian Carr Quintet – Mirage (Landsdowne Books)