2026 Midterm Report Card: Choosin' Ella Langley

Somehow, we’ve rolled around to the middle of 2026 which means its time for a midterm music report. As always, the standard caveats applied: I haven’t heard everything of interest to me, nor are my rankings final. The positions of many of these albums will likely shift around by December, some may drop out of sight completely.

I have added links to my reviews of the albums. Most of them link to a previous newsletter; some of these are paywalled, your support is always appreciated. Some of them will lead to Pitchfork (the work I do at MOJO is largely targeted to the magazine). There are a handful of titles that I’m aiming to write up—those are mainly on the Reissues list, which tend to take me a little bit longer than new records.

If the top few are a little predictable, well, they’re the ones that have lingered in my mind the most, so they’re the ones I’ve come back to often.

1. Ella Langley—Dandelion

2. Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds—Mutiny After Midnight

3. Charley Crockett—Clovis

4. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis—Deface the Currency

5. Ratboys—Singin’ to an Empty Chair

6. Julia Cumming—Julia

7. King Tuff—MOO

8. Paul McCartney—The Boys of Dungeon Lane

9. Olivia Rodrigo—you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love

10. The Paranoid Style—Known Associates

11. Marisa Anderson—The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music

12. Courtney Barnett—Creature of Habit

13. Flea—Honora

14. Kacey Musgraves—Middle of Nowhere

15. Luke Combs—The Way I Am

16. Charley Crockett—Age of the Ram

17. Willie Nelson—Dream Chaser

18. Kip Moore—Reason to Believe

19. Megan Moroney—Cloud 9

20. Mike Campbell & the Dirty Knobs—Mission of Mercy

21. Ringo Starr—Long Long Road

22. Kurt Vile—Philadelphia’s Been Good to Me

23. Buck Meek—The Mirror

24. Julian Lage—Scenes from Above

25. Gorillaz—The Mountain

26. The Lemon Twigs—Look for Your Mind!

27. Violet Grohl—Be Sweet to Me

28. Ashley McBryde—Wild

29. Aubrey Sellers—Attachment Theory

30. Midland—Stages

31. Dry Cleaning—Secret Love

32. They Might Be Giants—The World is to Dig

33. Sam Morrow—Southern Boogie

34. Joe Jackson—Hope and Fury

35. Squeeze—Trixies

36. Lucinda Williams—World’s Gone Wrong

37. The Black Crowes—A Pound of Feathers

38. Bill Callahan—My Days of 58

39. The Twilight Sad—It’s the Long Goodbye

40. Snail Mail—Ricochet

41. Ryan Beatty—Sweet Fortune

42. Old Crow Medicine Show—Union Made

43. Courtney Marie Andrews—Valentine

44. Crooked Fingers—Swet Deth

45. Ashley Monroe—Dear Nashville

46. The James Hunter Six—Off the Fence

47. Charli xcx—Wuthering Heights

48. Bruce Hornsby—Indigo Park

49. Caleb Caudle—Heavy Thrill

50. The Greenberry Woods—It’s All Good, Sugar…

1. Ween—Bring Out the Foos 1996

2. The Necessaries—Completely Necessary (Anthology 1978-1982)

3. Clifton Chenier—The King of Zydeco

4. David Forman—Who You Been Talking To

5. Little Feat—Little Feat [Deluxe Edition]

6. Don Williams—Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes

7. The Lovin’ Spoonful—What a Day for a Daydream: The Complete Recordings

8. Cream—Wheels of Fire [Super Deluxe]

9. Talking Heads—Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live

10. The Beach Boys—We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years

11. Ty Segall & the Muggers—“Live” “At” “The” “BBC”

12. Power Station—Power Station

13. Johnny Cougar—American Dream: The Mainman Recordings 1976-1977

14. Miles Davis—The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965

15. Velocity Girl—Simpatico! [Remastered and Expanded]