My Favorite Albums Of 2026: A Mid-Year Report!
Half a year ago, I accepted I hadn’t done the due diligence necessary to make a Favorite Albums Of 2025 list. Thankfully, this is totally fine when you’re not employed to make a Favorite Albums Of The Year list. But still, I like being able to say I'm keeping up on cool stuff, and hoped to do better in 2026. So far, so good, judging by the five 2026 LPs I can go to bat for at the half-way point. There's plenty more goodness to be sussed and discussed by December, but not today.
Tinariwen, "Erghad Afewo"
Tinariwen, Hoggar
I know even less about the Tuareg guitar scene than Homer did about Grand Funk Railroad, so here's a school library report. Tinariwen is a collective of guitarists from the nomadic Saharan people, their leaders participating in a Gaddafi-trained rebel movement against the Malian government before becoming full-time musicians in the early ‘90s. They’ve been playing internationally since the early ‘00s, regularly joined by younger Tuareg musicians. They’ve represented Algeria (musically, I mean) in the first World Cup held in Africa, won a Grammy for Best World Music Album, and recorded at least two albums in Joshua Tree with a cavalcade of American desert rock heroes. All while dealing with political strife at home, complete with kidnappings and death threats from Islamist militants. I vaguely recall hearing the 2007 album Aman Iman: Water Is Life, but not the six albums between that and 2026's Hoggar, named after the Algerian mountain range many Tuareg people have fled to, as Russian-funded mercenaries stoke ethnic violence in Mali.
I didn’t know much of that before hearing Hoggar, though. I just loved the rolling guitar licks and solos over hand claps and homegrown percussion, as well as the massed vocals rising behind the elders’ invocations that recall gospel and blues. It wasn’t terribly different than the Mali guitar music I associate with the ‘00s critical crossover of Amadou & Mariam (if you have any Ali Farka Toure recommendations, holler!). Reviews say Hoggar, recorded in Algeria with no guests bigger than Swiss indie rocker Jose Gonzalez, is lower on crossover novelty than other recent albums, and I believe it. I need to chase down a lyric translation, as Tinariwen reportedly address the current violence within a broader context of hope, survival and experience. That scans, as the album already sounds like keeping on keeping on.
Mitski, "If I Leave"
Mitski, Nothing’s About To Happen To Me
I've already said plenty!
Anthony Cougar Miccio
Alexis Taylor, "I Can Feel Your Love"
Alexis Taylor, Paris In The Spring
If copping to my ignorance about Tuareg music wasn’t awkward enough, I have to admit that - despite all the love I’ve given Hot Chip - I’ve never paid much attention to the solo work of lead singer Alexis Taylor, who’s just put out his sixth album under his own name. I’m pretty sure I gave his previous effort, 2021’s Silence, a listen, intrigued by the concept of hearing loss. Never got around to a second spin, though it will come thanks to Paris In The Spring.
Based on this stuff, I'd guess most Hot Chip songs originate with Taylor writing gentle demos that the homies then twist and tinker into gregarious dance floor magic. While Taylor is capable of similar soundscapes on his own, as proven by warm disco like “I Can Feel Your Love” and the Green Gartside feature/guitar showcase “On A Whim,” the arrangements here are nowhere as maximalist as Hot Chip gets, and the lack of Joe Goddard’s vocal encouragement makes Taylor sound even more vulnerable and tender. It’s hard to imagine anyone saying “finally, Alexis Taylor without all the bells & whistles!” You'd definitely send the curious to his day job first. But I can easily imagine a fan wishing Hot Chip was more prolific, and it’s those folks I’d make aware of this side hustle.
Imarhan, "Durham N'Oulhine"
Imarhan, Essam
More Tuareg guitar goodness! Iyad Moussa Ben Abderahmane, Imarhan’s singer, has played with Tinariwen, and is the nephew of their current bassist. As is the dilettante's wont, I might have checked out one of their previous three albums. But Essam is the first I’ve really sat with. The songs and arrangements are very similar to Tinariwen’s, but with audible, if unobsequious, synth assistance and electronic percussion. Apparently, this was accomplished by having a French guy sample and recreate instruments live with a modular synth. But I also would have believed “ProTools.”
Like Hoggar, this album was recorded in Algeria. But where the mountains near Tamanrasset represent a place to escape for the Mali-born Tinariwen, Imarhan is native to Algeria, and audibly younger if no less thoughtful. I have to watch myself, read translations, and hear about a dozen more albums, before assuming much beyond that. But as with Hoggar, Essam makes me excited to research.
Courtney Barnett, "Mantis"
Courtney Barnett, Creature Of Habit
“Stay In My Lane,” the first single from Creature Of Habit, was so distressingly defensive and clunky compared to 2021’s Things Take Time, Take Time (maybe the only 21st century album whose simple, bittersweet wisdom inspires me to reference The Velvet Underground), that I was worried Barnett had completely lost the script. But Habit is mostly an affirmation of her charismatic functional depression. Maybe the almost five years between albums suggested she lead with a rare curveball, even if her only curveball was obtuse, agitated self-pity? “Sometimes impatient, but mostly patient/ I see you waiting for better days” goes one of the sweeter valentines. Which she might be singing to herself, life after lockdown still full of reasons for ennui. My favorite track is likely “Mantis,” riding one of those addictively unresolved chord progressions in celebration of “auto-pilot days” and self-acceptance not feeling like settling. Here’s hoping it lasts.
He's very glad they're back.
The following are songs from 2026 albums (excluding the five above) that I've bothered to put on my music-mad kid's commute playlist. Mom's inclined to share the four-quadrant pop stuff, so my job is mostly keeping him aware of Dad's latest enthusiasms (he's heard the word "Tuareg," yes) and new classic rock, like The Rolling Stones, Weezer or The Strokes, assuming I can stomach it. Will the related full-lengths make my year-end post(s)?* May we survive the midterms to find out!
They Might Be Giants - "Eyeball," "Wu Tang," "Outside Brain," "What The Cat Dragged In"
Guided By Voices - "We Outlast Them All"
Dandy Warhols - "Rain"
McLusky - "hi! we're on strike"
Gorillaz - "The Happy Dictator (feat. Sparks)"
The Strokes - "Going Shopping"
Death Cab For Cutie - "Riptides"
The Rolling Stones - "In The Stars"
The Mountain Goats - "Charlie Sheen Reaches Out To The Feds"
Paul McCartney - "Home To Us (feat. Ringo Starr)"
Modest Mouse - "Picking Dragons' Pockets"
Weezer - "We Might As Well Be Strangers (feat. Wednesday)"
*The Dandy Warhols and McLusky songs are respectively from a compilation (the great Pin Ups) and an EP (the great I sure am sick of this bowling alley), and not a new album I'd be listing at year's end. mmm glaven.
Hipper than me? Any 2026 albums you want to make sure I'm considering? Feel free to share at anthonyisright at gmail dot com.
