After last month’s explosion of strong new records—or perhaps it was I who was strong, as many of those didn’t actually come out in July—it was a bit of a relief to not have to hustle (especially with school starting for me). But it is a joy that the flow is steady. Some hot tips:

–I was thrilled to learn that more Womacks are on the scene. Three sisters produced through love wars can sing their asses off; the writing isn’t consistently sharp, but should that grow…look out.

–BADU IS BACK! I’ve only listened to it once but it felt great.

–The Cramps, Neil Young, and Guitar Wolf on “the charts”?  Izzit the ‘90s? (Charli XCX rocks, too, though…and Ulysses Owens’ jazz take on grunge will have to wait for October)

–If you have time and need to get your body VERY loose, sample that amapiano playlist!

–If, like me, you like to face the abyss as much as can possibly be healthy, don the cans and pick up on what Saul Williams is putting down.

—Perhaps I’m a homer for spotlightin’ an album masterminded by a musician who, at 12, found himself being supervised by me in after-school detention multiple times (true story), but Bitchin’ Bajas are magically mesmerizing, and the extra track provided by the 12” is worth the extra dough.

SPOTLIGHT ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Bitchin’ Bahas: Isle Peaks (Drag City) ****

My Favorite August Slabs

***** = Fantastic

**** = Excellent

*** = Very Good

No stars = Good (definitely NOT BAD!)

Italics = Excavation from the Past

Marshall Allen: 101—An Audio Odyssey (Rope-a-Dope) ****

Erykah Badu & The Alchemist: Before the World Blows Up (Control Freaq / Young) *****

Betty Bryant: nothin’ better to do (self-released) ***

Blacks’ Myths: On a Row, live at sisters (self-released) 

Karina Canellakis: Rachmaninoff—The Bells / Symphonic Dances (Pentatone) ****

Christer Bothén / Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin: Serpentine (Black Truffle) ***** 

Charli XCX: Music, Fashion, Film (Atlantic) ***

Elizabeth Cook: Great Television (Agent Love / Thirty Tigers) ***

The Cramps: Gravest Gravy (Vengeance) *****

Marty Erlich: OPEN AIR—The Complete Saxophone Quartet Compositions of Julius Hemphill (Out of Our Heads) *****

Fatboi Sharif & E L U C I D: Invasion Body Camera (Fused Arrow mixtape) ****

Chad Fowler and Matt Lavelle: Whirlpool (Malakala Music) ****

Wolfgang Fuchs / Damon Smith / Jerome Bryerton: Now This Was Clear (Balance Point Acoustics) ****

Satoko Fujii Orchestra: Second Attempt (Libra) ****

Guitar Wolf: More Jet (Goner) ****

Ravyn Lenae: Blue Island (Atlantic) ****

Mat Maneri Quartet: Mist (Sunnyside) ****

Meridian Brothers / Mexican Institute of Sound: Ruido Tovar (Ansonia Records) ****

Sei Miguel: Viva! O Carro de Fogo de Sei Miguel (Clean Feed) ***  (Note: Clean Feed’s final release)

Neo Boys: Neo Boys (Mississippi Records) 

Orquesta Akokán: America (Daptone) ***

PLRLS: Sleeping in a Dress (self-released) ***

serengeti: Shark Attack (self-released) 

Jesse Sharps: Jesse Harps and The Wu Ensemble ***

Luke Stewart / Chad Taylor / Aymeric Avice: DEEP IN THE EARTH HIGH IN THE SKY (Rogue Art) ***

Trio Imagination: Creative Inspiration (Pi Recordings) ****

Gebhard Ullmann: Coffee and Berries (ESP-Disk) ***

Various Artists: After Hours Essentials 2026—Amapiano (Beatport mixtape) *****

Saul Williams: Leap Life (Big Dada) ****

Gaia Wilmer Large Ensemble: Parabólica—Reflections on Gilberto Gil, Volume I (Sunnyside) ****

Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble: Love is the Whole Thing, We Are Only Pieces (Palmetto) (out 9/18) ***

The Womack Sisters: The Womack Sisters (Daptone) ***

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts: As Time Explodes (The Other Shoe/Reprise) ****

ALSO…

Sample Living to Listen’s “Best of 2026” Bandcamp Playlist

My mid-year best-of, drawn from my previous ’26 posts. (Add any of the 5- and 4-stars above!)

The ballot I submitted for The Francis Davis Memorial Mid-Year Jazz Critics Poll

If it be your will, follow me on Instagram (“Good to My Earhole”: daily album cover quadrant), Substack (“The Overeem Failed Farewell Tour”: reflections on my ongoing teaching career with frequent lacing-throughs of music experience), and elsewhere on WordPress (“The Overeem Farewell Tour—Dispatches from The Public School Trenches”: a much deeper dive into pub-ed, featuring a “final” year day-by-day verbal highlight reel and a Covid diary, 3/3/2020 to 3/3/2021).

Vintage Albums I Deeply Enjoyed This Month

King Sunny Ade: Best of the Shanachie Years

Dorothy Ashby and Frank Wess: In a Minor Groove

Betty Bryant: Lotta Livin’

The Chieftains: Long Black Veil

Bo Diddley: Rare and Well Done

Erroll Garner: Afternoon of an Elf

Hamell on Trial: Ed’s Not Dead—Hamell Comes Alive

Mary Lee’s Corvette: Blood on the Tracks

The Meridian Brothers: Los Suicidas

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant: Last Heaven’s Bootleg

Charles Mingus: Mingus Mingus Mingus

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Rondstadt: Trio

Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball

The Rod Stewart Album

Charles Tyler Ensemble: Voyage from Jericho

Various Artists: Chains & Black Exhaust

Various Artists: Cumbia Cumbia Cumbia

Various Artists: If There’s Hell Below…

Wayfarer: American Gothic

Yaotal Mictlan: Sagrada Tierra del Jaguar

Hey! I Read, Too, and So Should You!

Octavia Butler: Fledgling

Erick Cloward: Stoicism 101

Don DeLillo: White Noise

Bob Suren: Weird Music That Goes on Forever—A Punk’s Guide to Jazz

Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching

Colson Whitehead: Harlem Shuffle