It’s always a pleasure to enjoy new music. There are so many releases to choose from, so many genres but the thing is what matters the most? An album made from the heart or an album made for the selling and streaming numbers? In this era with too much information for a person to digest, think about the music being released that even if you were asleep for 24 hours you wouldn’t make it within a week to listen to all the new releases. But, among all the craziness in the basket of new music, there are artists that get our attention at once and if their music is good you just put in on repeat.
Fontaines DC release “Dopamine Chamber” , different sound than the one we are used from our lovely Irish band, but as I said at the first listen, the album sounds ‘so dark’ that catches your attention at once. With tunes like “Marianne”, “Tongue”, “You Miss Me” and the perfect ballad out of the darkness with Rosalia “Where Is Gone?” (that travelled me back to the 90s when Nick Cave made a duet with Kylie Minogue on the timeless “Where the wild roses grow”) this is an album to put on repeat especially on those lonely rainy Autumn nights. (I miss songs from their punk vibe like “The boys in a better land” but understood the whole artistry assignment.)
Meshell Ndegeocello made a comeback and WOW! Really WOW out loud! Does a perfect album with covers under full rearrangement exist? Well, you have to listen to understand the meaning of it all. Meshell takes some favourite worldwide classics from George Michael & Aretha Franklin, The Human League, Dennis Edwards, Sonny & Cher, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers, Yarbrough & Peoples, Ja Rule and more and more and delivers a full new rearrangement to bring them to her album collaborating with some of the greatest musicians and vocalists. It sounds so etherial , so groovy, the basslines are so heavy, it gets stuck in your brain from the first listen and then you play it on and on again to rediscover all those favourite classics from the past, that were reborn and resurrected. Definitely one of the best releases from Blue Note Records.
Michael Kiwanuka releases “Fudge” and we stop whatever we’re doing to listen. I personally listened to the album on the beach the other day. So smooth, such nice lyrics and the classic Kiwanuka sound on an album that I am sure will grow on me on repeat. This sound is his own, you can tell from the first notes, his rhythm and the way he sings will always touch the heart and all the feelings deep inside. “Sing” , “Summer Clothes” and “Across the sky” are favourites (till now, more will occur, I’m sure of it).
Victoria Monet released one of the greatest RnB albums of 2026. And I don’t just say it in a simple way, just because I saw her live in Berlin some months ago and my jaw dropped several times on the floor! “Frequency Of Love” is an RnB gem with the roots back to the 90s (and maybe 80s and 70s at some points). Her voice sounds so good on these recordings and the feeling is a mixture of soul, RnB from back in the (right) era. She’s got duets with Bruno Mars, SZA, Leon Thomas, Lucky Daye, Chloe, Bryson Tiller and interludes that take you by the hand to the next tune. This is what RnB is all about and the way it sounds right. I relived bits of the 90s era listening to this album track by track and enjoyed the whole vibe it brings. The production, the arrangement is perfect!
