5 BEST ALBUMS – MAY 2026

28 May 2026

Band: BLEACHERS
Who: Singer/songwriter & workaholic
Jack Antonoff‘s supporting team.

Album: EVERY ONE FOR TEN MINUTES
Their 5th.

Antonoff: “It’s very rare that I write from the perspective of an everyone-ness. Obviously, the album is about my personal life, but when I was writing it, I was like, ‘We’ve never disagreed more. We’ve never been more torn apart.’ And yet there’s one core thing that everyone agrees on, which is: this version of modernity is trash. No one’s having a good time.”


Press photo by Alex Lockett

TUTV: It’s only recently that I found out that Antonoff is not one but an 11-time Grammy Award winner for his longtime production/songwriting work with megastars such as Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Kendrick Lamar. Well, I’m not a follower of these 3 global celebrities, so there you go.

But I do follow, and I do love his Bleachers project. And I do think that his new opus is
his/their best. Antonoff is a masterly, romantic singer-songwriter à la Beirut‘s Zach Condon, an enchanting mood-swinger à la Matt Berninger, and an absorbing human-stories teller à la Father John Misty.

Not one dull moment on Everyone For Ten Minutes. He writes/muses
about the shit times we live in, and it feels like you’re not alone comforting.

I wonder where he finds the time, aside from his hectic, main job for some of the biggest names on this planet, to write, compose, record, and then tour, alluring beauties like this hearty, mixed emotions one. Almost half of the year gone, and I’m quite sure this new Bleachers diamond will be Top-10 in my 2026 list.

Key singles.

– DIRTY WEDDING DRESS –

– YOU AND FOREVER –

ALBUM


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Europe/UK Dates Instagram – Website – Spotify
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Band: JAPANESE JESUS
Who: 2 Irish mavericks from West Limerick.
Bertie Kelly (vocals, guitars, bass) and
Denny Dunworth (Drums).

FFO: USA Nails, Fugazi, Pissed Jeans,
Nirvana
and other noiseniks.

Album: A WALL TO CLIMB OVER
Their debut, which follows their ace EP,
named Depression Breakfast from 2023.


Album artwork

TUTV: This is one of those indie DIY records that overwhelm my (experienced) ears way more than some massive mainstream successes within the same genre, in this case, powerhouse-noise rock.

I listened to the new Foo Fighters LP ‘You’re New Favorite Toy’ twice, and I probably won’t return to it, except for a couple of corking standouts. Thus far, this Japanese Jesus debut (released the same day as the Foos LP) has heated my earphones about 10 times now.
And it won’t be the last time.

Why? Well, it’s simple. These two hepped-up underdogs come up with more impressive tunes than Dave Grohl‘s globally famous band. With The Beige, Big Balls, Boredom Forever, No Rest and Over It the Irish turbo deliver riff-sick master blasters (think The Jesus Lizard on amphetamines, backed by Black Sabbath‘s cast-iron rhythm section) with blood-curdling melodies at the core of them all and vociferous vocalist Bertie Kelly screaming, at times, way more scarily than the former Nirvana drummer

With “I’m Bits, “Right Back Where They Started,” and “Whatever,” they offer some reflective moments amid the overall paranoid racket, balancing the record comprehensively well.

Japanese Jesus have outscored the Foos. Say no more, except for the
fact I always love it when the underdogs beat the big rock stars.

SINGLE

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ALBUM


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Instagram
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Band: THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS,
Who: Oklahoma‘s vet rockers.

Album: SANDBOX.
(Only) their 5th in 27 years.

Tyson Ritter (frontman) told NYC’s magazine Paper: “This album has taken
a lot of fireside chats, and a lot of mending fences. I think I said in an interview
before. People don’t really want a new All-American Rejects record.

People want their time capsule and want to jump into it and feel like they smell
CK One and it makes them feel young. But the question I pose is, ‘What if we can
say something now? What if we can actually resonate?’”

TUTV: After 27 years, these vets come up with a highly peachy longplayer. A fireworks record stuffed with a series of whoppingly fab tunes. We get scream-along/fist-pumping rockers (Easy Come, Easy Go / Sandbox / Staring Back At Me), euphoric rockers à la The Killers (Get This / Eggshell Tap Dancer / King Kong / Lemonade), and a couple of gripping ballads (Green Isn’t Yellow / Mama).

Enough sonic scores, with familiar life-observing-affirming stories, to have yourself one of the best rawk ‘n’ roll LPs of the year. Retro? Old-fashioned? Maybe, but I don’t give a flying f**ck if it’s hip or not. Sandbox made/makes me go for the repeat button several times now. It activates my bloodstream and doubles my production of adrenaline.

100% solid gold triumph. Hands down.

Key singles.

– KING KONG –

– GET THIS –

ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree
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Band: THE CORAL
Who: Liverpool‘s psych-folk-pop-rock ramblers wandering since 2002,
when they drew instant ear-attention with their dynamite self-titled debut LP.

Album: 388.
Their 13th.

“Recorded in two weeks and inspired by Rocksteady, vocal groups of the early 60s, Ethiopiques compilations and “the highs, lows, births and deaths of the last three decades
11-tracks bring the band back to the essence of being The Coral.”

TUTV: It’s vintage The Coral. Over the years, they grew mellower, more relaxed, more melancholic, more dreamy, and more sepia-toned. Charming, hum-along, mid-tempo tunes for romantic sunsets. If I think of it, the Scousers never ever disappoint(ed). They’re always welcome on my headphones. Right on, let the music play.

SINGLE

ALBUM


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Instagram – All Albums
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Credit J Kimball

Band: JESUS THE DINOSAUR
Who: Boston-based indie folk team.

Debut Album: NOTHING TO THE BRANCHES

Press info: “As most of us go through life’s formative stages, there are often
two lanes of maturity and fulfillment that casually intertwine, with each helping
inform and propel the other.

One is establishing who we are as a person, while discovering a sense of identity
and comfort as our true selves; and the other is finding our community along the
way, seeking refuge and safety in those that exist, and persist, closest to us.

Those lanes converge and come to the forefront of Jesus The Dinosaur’s introspective
debut album, Nothing To The Branches, a record that acts as a portal into a different
kind of emotive headspace.”

Tommy Ng (frontman) “The statement that we are making with this album is that we’re here! The songs cover a range of things from complex relationship dynamics to gender identity to anxiety attacks. But at our core, the music we make is really more about being involved in an intimate collaborative creation process together and finding our own expressions within it.”

“Our chemistry is everything! We’ve been friends for a long time. They are my closest friends.
It allows for the process of music writing to be very intimate and vulnerable and expansive. There’s space for everyone to have their expressions, and we all want to work together and
feel seen.”

TUTV: On this debut, the band explore gender identity, relationship dynamics, anxiety,
and escapism. Musically, they embed these life-important issues in gentle, charming, candid and acoustic-euphonious reveries. Luring indie folk that triggers self-analysing daydreaming.

The ruminative balladry of Bon Iver and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy comes to mind. Nothing To The Branches embraces a similar heart-and-soul stirring melancholia, wrapped in introvertive reveries such as Lifetime, Not Yr Boy, I Miss My Friend and fervent tunes such as (Agender, Empty Space, Sweet Nothing and Looking For A Way Out). Great vocals too from Ng and guitarist Hannah Foxman on Can’t Say.

I’m sure many young people out there can relate to the covered
topics on this brave and frank debut. Kudos to Jesus The Dinosaur.

SINGLE

STREAM/BUY ALBUM


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Instagram – Linktree

JESUS THE DINOSAUR – Boston’s Folk Pop Indies Make You Dream With New Piece ‘EMPTY SPACE’

Daily electricity to load your batteries

17 April 2026


📸 Miryam Weiss and J Kimball

Band: JESUS THE DINOSAUR (great name)
Who: Folk-rock indies from Boston, MA.

Track:
Piece from their upcoming debut LP, titled
‘Nothing To The Branches’, out on May 15th.

It showcases the band’s lush, emphatic sound that somehow
feels both intimately personal and richly expansive,

Tommy Ng (Vocals, acoustic guitar) “The lyrics are about spending time alone, and doing
your own thing. This is something I’ve always had to do to maintain my capacity for dealing
with the world, and to manage being overstimulated by it.

When I was a kid, this desire manifested itself as a fantasy about a special place that was somehow completely separate from the world, where time didn’t exist, and that only I could access, which I found incredibly soothing to think about.”


Single artwork by Hannah Foxman

TUTV: Empty Space is a nostalgic folk-pop tune. Infectious, uplifting, invigorating.
The kind of earworms that put a smile on your face, forgetting the daily manic
rat race around you.

The song’s sentiments make me think of Oasis‘ classic Live Forever, which also expresses the romantic sentiment of locking out the outside world (in this case, with your best friend) and doing whatever you want, without your entourage having any clue. Quite a universal fantasy (I guess).

LYRICS

“I wanna remember walking down the street at night in the summertime
Headphones on, streetlights casting beams through the humidity
No one at all around me

This could be,
This could be infinity


When I was young I wondered what I’d do with three wishes
I thought it fair; one for myself and two for everybody else
I never could decide on just two wishes for the world
And everytime I tried I was afraid it wouldn’t change the world

But as for me, I’d wish for an empty space
Outside of time
Endlessly open wide
That I could always go to to ease my mind
That I could always go to to ease my mind
This could be infinity
This could be infinity”

TUTV: Empty Space is an enchanting folk pop tune. Infectious, uplifting, invigorating.

STREAM/BUY


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Instagram – Linktree

JESUS THE DINOSAUR – Boston’s Power-Folk Indies Deliver Fiery Stomper ‘SWEET NOTHING’

Daily electricity to load your batteries

20 March 2026


📸 Miryam Weiss and J Kimball

Band: JESUS THE DINOSAUR (great name)
Who: Folk-rock indies from Boston, MA.

Track: SWEET NOTHING
Piece from their upcoming debut LP, titled
‘Nothing To The Branches’, out on May 15th.

Press info: “‘Sweet Nothing‘ showcases the band’s ease in relaying storytelling
emotions through music, conveying a confessional tone that tumbles and turns
like revealed entries from a diary. We hope you dig it as much as we do.”

Tommy Ng (vocals, acoustic guitar): “For me personally, I’m describing what it feels
like to be in a social setting while being maxed out on my social meter. I have a big people-pleasing problem, so I’ll keep pushing through social interactions even when I have nothing left to give, so what comes out of my mouth at that point is usually just that: filler, forced smiles, canned responses, bullshit. Just enough to pass as pleasing and agreeable to everyone.”

TUTV: Sweet Nothing moves and grooves, rattles and rocks, all at the same time.
It’s one of those thrilling tunes that open your ears on the spot. Think avid folk
celebs Mumford & Sons with a punky zing.

The deliriously rhythmic progression, sharp-edged vocals, evolving beat, and
feverish chorus cause a fiery-flavoured stomper. Very tasteful. Hail Jesus!

“All the things we say not to say anything
It’s not all bad, the sweet nothings
But my weak teeth are rotting
and I can’t stop pulling this candy rope from out of my throat
This party trick was good the first time but now I’m choking


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Instagram – Linktree