ILM 2026 Listening Club

2026 version.

Spotify playlist: ILM 2026 Listening Club

House rules: please post artist name and title of track (as well as any YouTube links if you want) and please hold off on spamming thread with lots of tracks at once.

Otherwise let's go and the road to placing in the 2026 Top 77 Tracks starts here...

obvious old hat (rob) at 4:06 3 Mar 26

Kiss Facility - Cheap Poetry

I should probably describe it so you know which bunch I mean: it's in the Venn diagram of shoegaze, dream-pop, and trip-hop with beautiful singing in Arabic. Their new album is pretty interesting too, gets a little techno/house-y at times

Nice, let's go!

Mexican Institute of Sound, Meridian Brothers - Cumbia Fantasia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci2-lUGrhTk

Heard this on the radio this weekend, how can I describe it? Like a Mexican William Onyeabor?

thanks for starting the thread and porting my recommendation, groovypanda!

this is my most listened to track so far this year, kinda like a more chill Bar Italia...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmOdUUu5WTU
Deer Park - Black Cat

Let's get things started: an appetising sonic starter

Kate Peaches - Easy Action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKdkkCKwkg

addictive euphoric electronic art-pop / alt-pop, sublime production, great vocal delivery with conviction and attitude. Probably my most played track of 2026 so far. Rinse & Repeat.

Kate Peaches is from Brighton, UK.

Links to streaming: Spotify, Amazon, Apple, Tidal etc.
https://awal.ffm.to/easyaction

Discovered via Breaking More Waves on X:

If anyone likes the idea of Kate Bush doing alt 80s synth bangers in 2026, then welcome and get your ears round newcomer Kate Peaches.

Excellent stuff. (A late addition to my weekly new music playlist) https://t.co/oiTMJ5kaOS

— Breaking More Waves (@BMWavesBlog) February 7, 2026

xp i like that track but not as much as “pharmacy,” that duo’s collaboration from last year.

didn't actually know that song but i like it! thanks :)

The whole Deer Park album from last year was kinda good? I sorta hated the whole presentation when I stumbled on them, but it's pretty good?

Hällas - Face Of An Angel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSbZwuOHLvE

Never mentioned on ILM? four albums deep, Hällas sit somewhere between proto-metal/80s synth prog. new LP opens with a 21 minute side-long prog epic 'Above The Continuum' followed by 4 shorter rockers. tasteful but not shit, some beautiful production touches and vintage synth choices.

a Lemon Twigs for Blue Oyster Cult fans?

Some nice Aphex-y sounds from Nondi_. The album album is nice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuUDdPyNDqM

Catchy bit of dance punk this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orZihOQgqJM

really love the new loraine james song ("in a rut" ft. sydney spann)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHkjkqYttD8

Haute & Freddy - Showgirl At Heart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBWAYWwS_jY

Los Angeles duo Haute & Freddy (Michelle Buzz and Lance Shipp)

this A+ pop music. The vocals, the songwriting, the dramatic sound, the production and visuals everything combines to deliver poptastic perfection.

Michelle is like a 21st Century Cyndi Lauper.

track taken from the brilliant debut Haute & Freddy album Big Disgrace that was released on March 13th.

Know very little about the artist but loving this R&B meets frantic breakbeats track from LA's Denyah

Denyah - Running (matters of the heart)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4-Yf396qqc

My most loved albums so far are Avalon Emerson and Ms Ray EP.

Erm two songs from them:

AVALON EMERSON - God Damn Finito
MS RAY - You’re Here

Listen to both in full though, it’s hard to pick highlights.

this song from the new ora cogan album has a chord progression that tickles my brain
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zPizH4ZQnA

fcukers have some bangers on their new album, my personal fav is "getaway"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F99P39CpYk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qLy4PYlQzU

Really loving this one:

Devon Rexi meets John T Gast - Breathstep
https://accidentalmeetings.bandcamp.com/album/breathstep

Wonky global weirdness meets heavy dub grooves, really reminds me of the woozy sort of stuff that Gang Gang Dance used to make, maybe Sun Araw too. Can't recommend it highly enough

Mattias De Craene & Black Koyo - Makatan

https://mattiasdecraene.bandcamp.com/track/makatan

track discovered via Tom Ravenscroft's show on Rinse FM

an explosive rhythmic, propulsive track that peaks in intensity after 6 Minutes. Sonically sublime you feel the energy and emotion.

taken from the forthcoming self titled album: Mattias De Craene & Black Koyo
https://mattiasdecraene.bandcamp.com/album/mattias-de-craene-black-koyo
April 24th

Mattias De Craene - sax, electronics
Hicham Bilali - guibri, vocals, qraqueb
|Ismael Akhraz - vocals, qraqueb
Marwan Abantor - vocals, qraqueb

All tracks are original gnawa traditionals played by Black Koyo and arranged by Mattias De Craene.
Album produced & recorded by Mattias De Craene in Essaouira, Morocco and hometown Ghent, Belgium 2025.

background context to Gnawa music:

Into the Gnawa: West African Spirit, North African Sound, Global Ceremony
https://ethnomusicalmichael.substack.com/p/into-the-gnawa-west-african-spirit

a few years ago a Swedish group called The Parade released a single called "I'm A Dreamer", which I liked and I recall Gorilla vs Bear promoted heavily. I have a feeling Moka was a fan of it too?

Anyway, last month they released an album called City of Dreams, "I'm A Dreamer" is on it (along with a cover of The La's "There She Goes"), and it's nice and Tough Alliance-y.

https://theparadeband.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-dreams

Yeah, that's the one that stood out on the album mainly as it's one of the very few tracks that hadn't been previously released over the last couple of years.

Playlist updated now. (NickB couldn't find Breathstep on Spotify so couldn't add)

awesome head-smacking song from the great new album by april + vista (traditional noise)

"very bad news"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_NznUHKK4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1o-jptI974

original "midnight sun" was good, the remix is really great

Another Swedish summer banger, sorta the theme for this thread the last couple of weeks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVySN4atljE

New band from County Limerick, Ireland Theatre as discovered via BBC 6 Music New Music Fix show tonight, and on

Stereogum: Theatre Announce Debut EP Incarnate: Hear “You Are”
https://stereogum.com/2498594/theatre-announce-debut-ep-incarnate-hear-you-are/music

"a grand, churning sound" with a dynamic and passionate vocals from Maeve O’Shea

Theatre - You Are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5SzO5VpBe8

riyl: Throwing Muses circa Counting Backwards and The Last Dinner Party

not sure if or where people are discussing the new project by the field, but the first song ("in our dreams") is easily one of the best songs of the year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgy7f4BhEac

this album is nothing that groundbreaking or anything, but it's been a real joy to listen to in the sunshine. it's her out of Kit Sebastian plus a couple of dudes, and it's kind of turkish psych-pop underpinned with a low-slung ESG sort of funkiness. and some really good tunes too. out on Brighton's Tru Thoughts...

Sosyete '25 - Yagara
https://sosyete25.bandcamp.com/album/yaygara

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D02GeIR55yY

^ that's the heaviest tune from it i guess, the rest is a little more airy and summery

New Feeble Little Horse is the summertime shoegaze album of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXrm1BWfDcY

Caroline Rose - Yip Yip Yow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Gj3maiYT4

I don't know what's the best thread to put this on, so I'm trying here for a start. Local college radio started playing this one a few weeks ago and it's an absolute joy whenever it comes on in the car. Cow-punk (literal cow in the lyrics). Then I went to look for other music by her, and the first thing I stopped on from a few years back was more of an alternative pop, a la Muna or something? Which is a genre of music that I enjoy, but I was hoping for more twangy rave-ups! Still dipping my toes in the Caroline Rose waters, is what I'm saying, but this one is going to be a song of the summer for me.

Playlist updated and added The Tubs' astonishingly good cover of Metallica's Fade To Black

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOnazc_5To