Crucial Releases: May 22
New music from feeble little horse, Thomas Dollbaum, Lowertown, JPEGMAFIA, Ed O'Brien, and Alela Diane. Fewer albums than usual, but three you really need to check out.
TLDR: This Week's Featured Albums
Released: May 26, 2026 on Saddle Creek
FFO: Spirit of the Beehive, Water From Your Eyes, They Are Gutting a Body of Water (TAGABOW), Quickly, Quickly, Sword II
Your first song: Doorway
♫ Support: Bandcamp
Released: May 22, 2026 on Dear Life Records
FFO: Songs:Ohia, Jason Molina, Damien Jurado, MJ Lenderman, Richard Buckner, Townes van Zandt
Your first song: Dozen Roses
♫ Support: Bandcamp
Released: May 22, 2026 on Summer Shade
FFO: Alex G, The Microphones, feeble little horse
Your first song: I Like You A Lot
♫ Support: Bandcamp
The word...
The May 22 release week was kind of light in terms of overall quantity, but I was still able to find 2 really good albums to feature and 3 honorable mentions below. The highight’s being Thomas Dollbaum’s alt country sound on his new album Birds of Paradise and Lowertown with their lo-fi shoegaze on Ugly Duckling Union. Both worth your time, if you fancy the genres.
I thought I was done once I listened to those 5 albums… then feeble little horse released their new album, bitknot, on Tuesday and I just had to include it in this collection, as it’s one of my favorite records of the year so far. Be sure to check out that review and the album!
In terms of honorable mentions, we have some alt hip hop from JPEGMAFIA, some singer-songwriter in the vein of Joanna Newsom and Joni Mitchell from Alela Diane, and then some avant/experimental rock from Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien on Blue Morpho.
Enjoy! See you in a few days.
Honorable Mentions
This month also had many excellent releases worth exploring. Stay tuned for more discoveries.
Experimental Rap by JPEGMAFIA
- 💿 Released: 21 May on PEGGY
- 🤘 FFO: alt hip hop, clipping, Denzel Curry, Danny Brown, Armand Hammer
- 🎧 Your first song: “babygirl”
- 💰 Support: Bandcamp
Who’s Keeping Time by Alela Diane
- 💿 Released: 22 May on Fluff and Gravy Records
- 🤘 FFO: Joanna Newsom, Laura Marling, Devendra Banhart, First Aid Kit, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O’Connor, Kate Bush
- 🎧 Your first song: “California”
- 💰 Support: Bandcamp
Blue Morpho by Ed O’Brien
- 💿 Released: 22 May on Transgressive Records
- 🤘 FFO: Radiohead, Thom Yorke solo, The Smile, krautrock, avant rock
- 🎧 Your first song: “Incantations”
- 💰 Support: Bandcamp