1 June 2026 - Ariane Roy - Âmes soeurs

You might remember my #Wicked25.  For the very first time last year, I listed my 25 favorite albums of a year.  I have been known to do one or two favorites, but never 25.

I also had a list of 25 runners up - honourable mentions, as you will.  Some of those, I felt very guilty about excluding.  I'm going to highlight those this week - because if I made the list today, these albums would be ON the list, not just honourably mentioned.  

I'm not going to highlight the albums that would have been bumped in most cases - because they were on the list because they were deserving, excellent albums. And no, you can't just guess it's 21-25, because that's not the case.  At all.   

This is the more egregious omission.  Because, if you look back at the list, you'll now see 26 honourable mentions.  I didn't listen to Dogue by Ariane Roy until January.  It was a terrible oversight on my part, because it not only would have made the list, it would have been a top 10 album.  This is EASILY the second best francophone album of 2025. 

Ariane release Dogue de Luxe in February of this year - probably because Dogue was so well-received - and used the extra space to make new versions of some of her songs with her friends.

If you didn't know this was coming, you aren't paying attention. 

Anyway, Alexandre Martel and Lou-Adriane Cassidy joined her on the new version. 

29 May 2026 - LE SSERAFIM - BOOMPALA

Dale a tu cuerpo, alegría indeed. 

Because yeah, this song by Korean girl group LE SSERAFIM, who have an inexplicable second S in their name, certainly DOES sample the wedding staple "Macarena".  And their latest single, from the album 'PUREFLOW', Pt.1, which is incredible, is very much fast Latin house - and very much in your face from the get go. 

The single was literally released last Friday, but is already on the Japanese charts.  Let's see where this goes.  I personally think they're poised for greatness.

It's a K-Pop girl group.

OF COURSE they have a performance video.

And by "a performance video", we mean TWO performance videos.  This one's in a quarry.

Now, you know I usually have to throw a disclaimer on "live" performances by K-Pop groups, but this performance - from earlier this week on Korean television - seems to be a little different - it's not the album version at all.  They seem to be at least PARTLY singing this. 

You may notice there's only four of them.   Kim Chaewon had to sit this one out and will be resting for a bit with neck pain. 

28 May 2026 - Kate Bush - Experiment IV

 "Hey, you know what would make this greatest hits album great?  A song about literally killing people with music."

And, indeed, that's exactly what happened in 1986, when Kate Bush released The Whole Story, and had a moderate hit song and arguably her biggest hit to date, finally getting significant overseas airplay and MTV rotation. And yes, it was about the military creating a sound that could kill someone from a distance, written and produced by Kate Bush. 

The video was directed by Bush herself and tells that exact story. 

25 May 2026 - Amy Grant - The 6th of January (Yasgur's Farm)

"Amy Grant writing a song about the January 6th incident in Washington, DC" was not on my 2026 bingo card.

Here we are. 

Released as a single on January 6th of this year - and the lead track on her album The Me That Remains, released May 8th - it's about more than that specific event, but the unrest that happens around us, and being present in the moment despite these moments of turmoil. She's definitely not taking a side.

The song is sweet and hopeful, and on this Memorial Day, I think we need that.

By the way, for those who don't get the reference, Matt Yasgur owned a daily farm in Bethel, NY and leased one of his field for a music festival in 1969 that neighboring towns declined to host.  Oh, that music festival was Woodstock.  Did I forget to mention that? 

By the way, Amy suffered a pretty traumatic brain injury four years ago, so it's pretty incredible that she's recording at all......

Let alone performing the song live, and doing so beautifully. 

21 May 2026 - New Constellations - I Disappear

Harlee Case and Josh Smith were high school friends who recorded music together.  Then they graduated and went their separate ways....

Until 2015, when, after several years of pursuing solo careers, they both returned to Oregon - Portland - and started a creative partnership that is New Constellations.  

They just released a breakthrough album last week - It Comes In Waves - that is excellent and you should check out.  They're rightly getting Phantogram comparisons with this album, which has a vague Eyelid Movies feel. 

But they aren't Phantogram. They're making good, unique music that you should hear.

After hearing this early live version of the song from last year, I think this would mash up really well with "When I'm Small" and I wish I was good enough to do mashups.  

I have been talking about the album and another band so much.... but this is my favorite song on the new album because it's just loaded with emotion.  It uncorks and beats you like a drum.

20 May 2026 - Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache

I really miss old time classic pop/country crossover hits.  They don't make songs like that anymore. 

Take "Seven Year Ache". Written by Rosanne Cash and produced by her then-husband Rodney Crowell, this song by Johnny Cash's daughter was a HUGE country hit and a moderate pop hit in 1981. 

It wasn't her last country hit - it's considered to be her breakthrough - but it's her most recognizable today. 

She's never stopped recording the song, either.  Here she is performing the song last year, in a quiet acoustic version at the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

This performance from 1987, however, is more electric and matches the feeling of the original. 

19 May 2026 - Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer

Do you remember the time when the "Sledgehammer" video came out and everyone thought it was SOOOOOOOOOO groundbreaking because, well, claymation and stop-motion?

And it was.  It won NINE MTV Video Music Awards, the most any video has ever won.  It won the Brit Award for Best Video of the Year.  It was NOMINATED for a Soul Train Music award in 1987..... the only non-R&B artist nominated in the category and the only non-jazz white artist nominated in ANY category that year. He lost that one to Janet Jackson....

The video is great and Gabriel suffered for it - by having clouds repeatedly painted on his face and having to stay very still a LOT.  

But this isn't a blog about videos.  It's about music.  And this was a pop-rock song in the British soul style, written by Gabriel, that would become his biggest hit in North America (and tie for his biggest hit in the UK).  Gabriel leans into the soul influence on this song and on the whole So album, merging an 80's synth sound with 70's-style horns. 

OK, but the video is undeniably great.

Gabriel embarked on a long tour in support of So, and it ended in October 1987 in Athens, Greece.  

His performance is absolutely a whole-body performance.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the release of So.

So, why not celebrate with a lively performance from.... 2023.

Gabriel still gives a whole-body performance but with less hair.