I’m far behind on this, as it’s already mid-May 2026, but I’ve meant to create a list of my favorite records (and concerts, see other posts) of the last five years. I created such lists for my top stuff from 2020 through 2024, so I’m continuing the trend. Mind you, these are the top twenty-five albums I reviewed, not albums released during those five years. There were many excellent albums that slipped through the cracks. Enough backstory. Let’s get to it before this gets delayed yet again.
#25: Rochelle Jordan – Play with the Changes(2021)
This is a beautiful, funky, and sexy record that introduced me to Ms. Jordan’s music and instantly made me want to find out more about her work that mixes house music with R&B with ease.
#24: Brijean – Feelings(2021)
This lovely dream pop record came out of nowhere (for me at least) and floored me. They’re a fun duo who have yet to make a bad album.
#23: Ty Segall – Harmonizer(2021)
I was a bit surprised to hear Ty Segall embracing synthesizers and going into electronic music somewhat on this record, but then I wasn’t surprised because Segall is always exploring different genres and embracing his many influences. It was a cool surprise from him.
#22: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – The Silver Cord extended version(2023)
Speaking of cool surprises: King Gizzard goes full rave! There was the “regular” version of this all-synth album by the Australian psych giants and then this “extended” version of the album that I preferred. Once again, KGATLW showed they can adapt to anything they decide to play.
#21: Anika – Change(2021)
Haunting and gorgeous. That’s the best way I can describe this synthwave album from Anika. It snuggles / slithers up next to you and doesn’t leave for days.
Who’s in the top twenty? Come back tomorrow to find out!
There’s a strange thing that happens when you go through a heavy grief process. Sure, you have all the agony, regret, emptiness, and at least brief moments of madness, but sometimes, after the dust settles a bit, you also have a moment when you realize you can, will, and must continue your journey. It’s an empowering, powerful flash of insight that can zip past you if you’re not careful. You have to grab it when it arrives. It might not return.
Lauren Lakis grabbed it while making her excellent new record Deadlights. She’d already lost friends and family to addictions as she grew up the kid of a single mom in Baltimore. She turned to music and film to make sense of it all, joined some bands, and went around the world. While singing in one of those bands, she went through a bad breakup and then learned her mother had been in a car accident that left her paralyzed.
That’s a lot to carry and channel, and she faces the challenge head-on with “There” opening the album with shoegaze guitars and her voice rising above the dissonance. “Heaven Felt Too High” roars with heavy bass grooves that would make Greg Edwards proud.
“I Fall Apart” has Lakis acknowledging the tough parts of grief, but also how she can keep moving (“I won’t let you down. I won’t turn back and around.”). The bass on “The Other Side” hits as hard as anything Kris Novoselic ever dreamed up and probably starts a mosh pit whenever Lakis plays this song live. She makes some Zen allusions on “It’s So Amazing” in which she sings about being in the here and now.
The title track buzzes like your head after you’ve endured a heavy loss. It’s quiet and yet deafening. “No One’s Around Now” reminds me of advice one of my best friends gave me a couple days before my late wife’s funeral: “You’re going to be surrounded by people who love you…and then they’re all going to go home.” It’s true. Eventually, no one is around to help. You have to do it yourself. Lakis knows this and accepts the challenge. What else can you do?
“Love Like a Dog” is a contender the saddest song on the album. The guitar tones let you know it’s going to be rough sailing for a bit, but there is sun on the horizon. “I Want You Here” probably takes the “saddest song” title, and the drone-like bass and melted guitar chords emphasize the loneliness in the lyrics. Ending with “With That Body,” the album drifts away on almost a dream-psych note. The guitars wind around you like a desert wind and the synth bass and drums nearly pull you into a trance.
Deadlights hypnotizes throughout its length. Its a solid record and one that you’ll revisit a lot during late night drives and gray days.
Thanks to everyone who listened to my first Manic Monday show on WSND of the 2026 summer break. Here’s the set list for the first all-80s show of the season!
The Who – Eminence Front (1982)
Eurythmics – Here Comes the Rain Again (1983)
Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy (Justin Strauss remix) (1988)
Prince – Take Me with U (1984)
House of Large Sizes – T-Time in Memphis (1989)
Steely Dan – Time Out of Mind (1980)
David Sanborn – All I Need Is You (1981)
Dire Straits – So Far Away (1985)
Micheal McDonald – I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near) (1982)
Donald Fagen – Green Flower Street (1982)
Sade – Paradise (1988) (request)
Taylor Dayne – Tell It to My Heart (1987)
The Clash – Capital Radio (live) (1980)
Asia – Only Time Will Tell (live) (1982) (request)
Bruce Springsteen – Bobby Jean (1984)
Huey Lewis and The News – Hip to Be Square (dance remix) (1986)
Eric B. & Rakim – I Ain’t No Joke (1987)
Jody Watley w/ Eric B. & Rakim – Friends (1989) (request)
Kenny Rogers – All My Life (1983)
Patrick Simmons – So Wrong (1983)
Kenny Loggins – Welcome to Heartlight (1983)
DeBarge – All This Love (1983)
Little River Band – We Two (1983)
Walter Egan – Fool Moon Fire (1983)
Daryl Hall & John Oates – One on One (1983)
Jim Capaldi – That’s Love (1983)
Bee Gees – The Woman in You (1983)
The Kinks – Come Dancing (1983)
Queen – I Want to Break Free (Reflex revision) (1983)
UB40 – All I Want to Do (1986) (request)
Lindsey Buckingham – Trouble (1981) (request)
New Order – Ceremony (1981)
The Specials – Message to You Rudy (live) (1980) (request)
Pixies – Broken Face (1988)
The Church – Under the Milky Way (1988) (request)
Love & Rockets – A Private Future (1985)
a-ha – Hunting High and Low (1985)
Public Image Ltd. – Rise (1986)
A Flock of Seagulls – Space Age Love Song (1982)
Madness – Our House (12” mix) (1982)
Mary Jane Girls – Our House (1985)
Motörhead – Back at the Funny Farm (1983)
Killing Joke – Requiem (1980)
Jerry Goldsmith – Night Work (1989)
Jan Hammer – Miami Vice theme (1984)
Rajesh Roshan – Sannata theme (1981)
Charanjit Singh – Raja Malkuns (1982)
Quadrant Six – Body Mechanic (1982)
Van Halen – Everybody Wants Some (1980)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood – Two Tribes (1984)
Hüsker Dü – Hardly Getting Over It (live) (1987)
Abba – Lay All Your Love on Me (1980)
Erasure – A Little Respect (12” mix) (1988)
The Doobie Brothers – Long Train Runnin’ (live) (1981) (request)
The Smiths – How Soon Is Now? (1984)
Kajagoogoo – Too Shy (1983)
Xmal Deutschland – Allien (live) (1981)
Agent Orange – Too Young to Die (1981)
Duran Duran – All She Wants Is (1988)
Adam and The Ants – Red Scab (1982)
Run-DMC – It’s Tricky (1986)
The Cramps – Chicken (live) (1987)
Devo – Soft Things (1981)
Be sure to come back next Monday for another mega-dose of 80s music!
I love how the title of Automatic‘s newest album Is It Now? can be pronounced multiple ways to create multiple meanings, which I think was the point when they named it. It’s open for interpretation. Is it pronounced Is It Now? or Is ItNow? or Is It Now? I think it might be all three.
Halle Saxon‘s funky bass on “Black Box” opens the album with synth player / lead vocalist Izzy Glaudini singing about the frustration of fighting a losing battle, be it in a relationship or the world at large. “MQ9” reveals their love of Devo and krautrock. Drummer Lola Dompé (who has since quit the band) puts down some of her best cyborg beats on the whole record here.
“Don’t sleep your life away,” Glaudini urges on the ultra-cool / sexy hot “Mercury” – a song about not finding excuses for your bad choices. On the next track, “Lazy,” she proclaims, “The thing you thought you wanted was just the image of control.” That’s some Zen right there.
I love how “Country Song,” a song about getting out of the city and embracing a quieter life, is pretty much a city pop song. Glaudini’s bright synths, Saxon’s happy bass, and Dompé’s dance drums put the song in a city club while Glaudini sings about embracing nature. The title track brings OMD and early New Order to mind with its fast beats, grumpy badger bass, and fuzzy synths. Also, the title track doesn’t give any indication on the “proper” way to pronounce the album and song’s title, which is a fun move by them.
“People are polite and frightening,” Glaudini notes on “Don’t Wanna Dance.” She’s stuck in a loud, bright club and would rather avoid the crowd and hang out on the back steps. “Smog Summer” has the band reluctantly returning to city life (“I’ll miss the rain. I’ll miss the moose. I’ll miss the sweet wind whispering tunes.”) as a thick bass riff from Saxon leads the way. It and the following track, “The Prize,” have heavy environmental themes. “Smog Summer” talks about wanton destruction of natural environments, while “The Prize” snarls at the lust for oil and how it ruins everything around it (“You’re gonna learn what the cost to the future means.”).
“Playboi” is a warning to women on the verge of a toxic relationship (“The little boy is losing his head. A malcontent that you’ll never fix. You better run, you better be quick.”). The three of them making this track one of the sultriest on the record is a great in-joke.
The closing track, “Terminal,” is sung in Arabic, with the main (only?) lyrics being “Enough is enough. The coffee boils and the fire doesn’t go out.” It’s almost a drum and bass track and ends the album with an energy boost to inspire us to do something now.
Perhaps that’s the key to the album’s title. Automatic is asking us “Are you going to do something now? How many more red flags do you need?” Now is it, because now is all we have.
I hadn’t heard of Dutch electro artist Joost Klein until a month ago when I heard him mentioned by a local high schooler. I asked my stepdaughter about him and she almost jumped out of her chair. “I love Joost!” she said and was even more thrilled when we learned he was playing in Chicago. The show was originally scheduled for Thalia Hall, but as you can see from that photo, they realized they needed a lot more space for the 3,000+ who showed up at The Salt Shed.
First on the bill was a DJ of sorts – ipadkid2001. I write “of sorts” because I’m not sure if this chap was a DJ or someone pretending to be a DJ. It might have been an act. The crowd was so jazzed that they screamed when ipadkid2001 just turned on the light above his turntables. He played an odd mix of songs, ranging from drum and bass bangers to The Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” Most of these songs weren’t played all the way through. They were usually snippets or perhaps two verses and a chorus. At one point he played vocal samples that stated, “This is my first time DJing. I don’t know what I’m doing.” and “Wow, ipadkid, that transition was terrible.” I was willing to believe the first statement, and the second was accurate. There were so many awkward transitions between tracks that I wasn’t sure if they were intentional or not. Again, was all this a parody? I don’t know, and by the end I don’t think the audience knew.
A DJ set? A clever joke? I’m still not sure.
Klein’s DJ, DJ Chool, played a set that was so short that I wondered why he even bothered. I mentioned this to my stepdaughter, who rightly stated, “He’s just warming up for Joost.” He was both a DJ and a hype man, who was having a blast dancing around the stage for the few moments he had it to himself.
You were going to try cramming all these people into Thalia Hall?
Klein ran out on stage as soon as DJ Chool got back to his decks and the crowd went bonkers as he began with “Ome Robert” (otherwise known as the lovely ballad “Suck My Ditch, Bitch.”).
SMD, bih!
The whole show was as crazy as the opening number. Klein twice told the audience to look out for each other in the crowd and stay hydrated, once stopping before he started a new song so someone could be removed from near the front due to them being overheated.
My stepdaughter was delighted to hear “1,” and the younger folks in the crowd went nuts when he played a version of Crazy Frog’s “Axel F” while this Gen X’er was amused and baffled. I later told my stepdaughter, “I feel like I should know the story of the crazy frog.” Her response was, “It’s an old YouTube video.” I later learned it’s a Swedish animated character from Eurodance.
My stepdaughter: “He’s gonna play 1!”
Other fun highlights were “Tetetetete” – a Spanish song as a salute to Cinco de Mayo, the “We can all relate to this” track “TRAFIK!” (about being stuck in traffic), and the “We can relate even more to this” cut “Capitalism :D” (about both hating and needing work).
The work hamster wheel / toilet paper roll never ends!
“Zonder Jou” and “Europapa” were other big hits for the crowd. It was a fun show, and one that hadn’t been on my radar. Klein was genuinely appreciative of the crowd and response, commenting multiple times on how he was stunned by the number of people who showed up.
Be prepared to dance, and laugh, if you can catch him. It’s a good time.
The final day of the 2026 Austin Psych Fest was the most humid of the three, and easily the most soulful. The festival bumped up all the sets by an hour, presumably to avoid the thunderstorms predicted to roll in around 10pm that night just as the final set was about to end.
As a result, I wasn’t able to get in a disco nap before the festival and trotted my slightly sunburned body to the Far Out Lounge just in time to catch Night Beats play a solid set of psychedelic, fuzzy soul rock. It had been a few years since I’d seen them, and they haven’t lost a step. They still deliver the goods.
Night Beats rocking day beats.
Up next were the funky Dumbo Gets Mad, who had everyone happily dancing in the hot sun without a care. Finding shade is a skill at this festival. You have to claim spots early or rely on the charity of others to squeeze you into a shady space. The occasional breeze elicited happy sighs from the crowds, and it kept hitting at good times during DGM’s set to make dancing all the easier.
No anger here, just fun vibes.
A big crowd had assembled for La Lom, who hit the first note exactly at the start of their set time. The Los Angeles trio played a fun set of instrumental cumbia, rockabilly, and border rock. Everyone was smiling during this set. Couples were dancing and making out. People were cheering their ancestry as La Lom announced the origin of several tracks (“We’re going to play a song from Columbia!”, “This is an old one from Mexico!”).
La Lom shaking hips everywhere.
Trish Toledo was the next artist on the bill, bringing her Latina soul siren vocals to the second stage with her killer backing band. She started with her version of Diana Ross’ “Bad Girls” and proceeded to win and break hearts from there. Everyone was spellbound by the end.
Trish Toledo wrapping everyone around her fingers.
The night, and the festival, ended with the big sounds of Thee Sacred Souls. Much like La Lom and Ms. Toledo’s sets, everyone was buzzing and happy during it. The heat and sun didn’t matter (“It’s like being in a club at 3am,” said lead singer Josh Lane). People all around me were dancing, cheering, smooching, and loving the opportunity to go out with dance grooves to carry them home.
The thunderstorms hit almost an hour later, preventing me from getting to the late night show downtown. That was a bummer, but overall it was a good time and, as always, an excellent blend of genres and bands from all over the map.
And now, my random Festival Awards!
Best set: The Flaming Lips. The sound engineering was top-notch and it was a fun set list. On a personal note, they were one of my late wife’s favorite bands and they played the night before our 29th wedding anniversary, so that was special. I got choked up during “The Golden Path.”
Heaviest set: The Black Angels. Good heavens, the modern versions of the songs from Passover somehow have even more fuzz and weight on them.
Shame on You if You Missed It set: Almost Heaven. They were the second set on the first day and put on a sharp, post-punky / electro-funky set that had a lot of people buzzing by the end of it and wearing their new band shirts over the next two days.
Wildest set: J’cuuzi. Absolutely bonkers and a ton of fun. Crazy costumes, exotic dancers, glam-punk riffs, a spinning chair substituting for a stripper’s pole, and more stuff I’ve forgotten were all crammed into it. They opened the festival and set a high bar for everyone to follow.
Loveliest set: Trish Toledo. This was like a cool breeze refreshing you after a long day. The soul ballads and psychedelic funk sounds were a great addition to the festival. This was another set you’ll kick yourself for missing if you weren’t there.
Sweatiest set: Night Beats. Lead singer and guitarist DannyLee Blackwell’s shirt was soaked enough for him to win a wet t-shirt contest by the end of this. The fuzzy, guitar-roar sounds were sweaty, too. Everyone in the crowd was sweating, at least a bit dehydrated, and yet ready for more by the end.
Happiest set: La Lom. Everyone was dancing and smiling the whole time, including the band. The back-and-forth cheering between La Lom and the crowd reflected how everyone was participating in a big party and not caring about the humidity.
Most Happy to Be There set: New Candys. I didn’t get to see every band at the festival, but of all the ones I did see, the Venetian trio seemed to be the happiest to be there and hanging out with the rowdy crowd and a bit surprised at how many people came to see them.
Trippiest set: Holy Wave. These guys do psych-rock very well and are local favorites. I usually see them in dark venues or at night, but the afternoon sun only seemed to make them sound brighter and dreamier.
Most Shredding in a Set: Ty Segall. There were a few times in his raucous set that he just unloaded a crate full of mega-riffs. How a mosh pit didn’t break out during this is beyond me. It must have been the heat.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Cheyenne Doerr for the press credentials and support.]
I heard the thunder rumbling as I started the walk to the Far Out Lounge for the second day of Austin Psych Fest. I got about three blocks when the rain started. My phone’s weather app said it was just an isolated storm that would soon pass. I put on the raincoat I’d packed and continued walking…
…into a full-on thunderstorm complete with flash flooding and rain hitting so hard that at one point I thought it was hail. I later learned there were funnel clouds in the area at the time. I sloshed my way back to the Air BNB place I was sleeping in for the weekend, wrung out my socks, and waited out the storm for at least another hour before making the trip in the now sunny, jungle-humid afternoon.
APF had been delayed for those two hours due to a couple lightning strikes. As a result, the first four bands of the day – Commercial Breaks, Strange Lot, The Dead Canyon Family Reunion, and Grocery Bag – ended up with canceled sets. Annabelle Chairlegs barely managed to squeeze in their set when the festival finally opened.
So, first on the bill for me was Ty Segall. I hadn’t seen him since the (unknown to everyone at the time) final Psycho Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2021. As one photographer in front of me said before the set, “You never know what you’re going to get with Ty.” That’s true. You could get a lot of shredding, acoustic ballads, or even electro-infused dance rock. For APF 2026, Segall and his band brought the rock.
Ty Segall and crew bringing another kind of thunder.
It was a fun set from him, and a ripper of a way to start my festival day. He included at least two new tracks which sound great. The set had a heavy 1970s garage rock sound to it, and I’m surprised mosh pits didn’t erupt throughout it.
Segall’s set was followed by a double-bill of psychedelia. Up first were world travelers Al Qasar who had everyone dancing and grooving with their neat mix of Dutch, Brazilian, Arabic, Jamaican, and several other nations’ sounds. They even ended with a wild reworking of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus.”
Al Qasar taking everyone on a trip.
Then, Melody’sEcho Chamber performed to a big crowd who fully embraced their mind-bending sound and light show. I saw a lot of, ahem, blissed-out people during their set having a great time.
Is it a jellyfish? A butterfly? A jellyfly? A butterfish? That edible kicking in?
Many of us zipped over to the smaller stage to catch New Candys’ set. The Italian trio (No longer a quartet?) roared for the whole performance, knocking out heavy riffs, shoegaze fuzz, and slapping beats. “Damn, those guys are really good,” said a guy behind me once they’d finished. He was right.
New Candys with a delicious set.
The day ended with our hosts, The Black Angels, performing their Passover album in its entirety as well as other tracks (including at least one new song). The crowd was packed for them. One group in front of me had some weird fire dance circle going with a couple lighters being waved near the ground. The Black Angels are currently touring to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Passover, so don’t miss them. It’s a good opportunity to hear a lot of deep cuts.
Don’t pass over a Black Angels show! See what I did there?
Up next: Latin psychobilly surf rock, psychedelic cumbia, and a lot of soul!
I hadn’t been to Austin Psych Fest in several years. Mind you, I’d been to Levitation festivals multiple times, and on two continents, but I hadn’t been to APF since the Reverberation Appreciation Society brought it back after “APF” had been changed to “Levitation” and moved to the fall. APF returned to the Far Out Lounge in Austin a few years ago for the RAS’ spring festival, and this was the first chance I had to make the trip.
Austin’s own J’cuuzi were the first band on the bill and the first I wanted to see. They set a high bar to meet for everyone to follow, complete with dancers, t-shirt tosses, a somewhat famous spinning chair, a Capri Sun costume, bubble guns, and so much dance-punk / art-punk / glam-punk / drag-punk / I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-is-happening-punk that you could barely take all of it in during their set and left you feeling a bit post-orgasmic and somewhat baffled afterwards.
L-R: Durs, Gorge Bones, Trey Razeldazl. Oddly enough, this was one of the calmer moments of J’cuuzi’s set.
Next up were another local group, Almost Heaven. The electro-duo were celebrating the release of their first EP, Raw Cranium, and immediately commanded the stage upon the first note. The whole set was bumping, with solid, wicked beats from Jaelyn Valero and vocals from Stefan Barazza that reminded me of everything from The Cramps to Roxy Music.
Almost Heaven getting us pretty close to there, really.
Within moments of their set ending, you heard this loud wall of sound coming from the other direction. That turned out to be shoegaze rockers Glare blasting us with multiple guitars and echoing vocals. It was a change in tone for the festival up to this point, and not a bad one at all. Sometimes you need a ton of reverb and fuzz to keep you going for the coming hours.
Glare blasting us with power.
Not long after that, we dove into psychedelic waters (It is a psych fest, after all.) with Holy Wave. I’ve been a fan for a while, so it was good to see them again after a few years. As usual, they put on a good set of psych-rock that ranged from dreamy to heavy. I bumped into The Black Angels’ Alex Maas later and he described their sound as “like opening a scroll.” Accurate.
Casting spells with Holy Wave.
I needed a break by this point, so it was off to Torchy’s Tacos across the street for some much-needed grilled chicken nachos. They were delicious, as was the Cubs working their way to a win over the Rangers at the time. I got back in time to see a big crowd had gathered for Diiv and their trippy set of shoegaze rock that mixed in weird short films of corporate presentations and public domain footage. It reminded me of Devo’s corporate anthem stuff.
Diiv putting on a board meeting.
The night ended with a fun set from The Flaming Lips. The crowd was happy to have them back and they seemed delighted to be there. Confetti and balloons rained down on us for several songs, with “Turn It On” and “The Golden Path” being big highlights for me, as well as their encore of “War Pigs.” Everyone was exhausted but elated by the end.
A typical day for Wayne Coyne and the Flaming Lips.
The festival is off to a fun, sweaty start. Up next, more local talent, a guy I haven’t seen live for many years, Italian shoegaze, a twentieth anniversary show, and more!
