MIDYEAR TOP 15: my favorite releases of 2026 (so far)

No long texts, no distinction between live or studio albums and EPs. Just the spontanous selection of my fifteen favorite releases of the year 2026 so far. (Chosen exclusively from physical items in my collection, which I have also already written about. In alphabetical order, because I didn't have the heart to rank that shit. My no.1 favorite right now however is subtly marked.)  

• FLEA
  Honora
  
  
  
  
• GLIMMEN
  Quatre
  
  
  
  
• IVAN THE TOLERABLE
  Chromophobia
  
  
  
  
• LAIBACH
  Musick
  
  
  
  
• LILI REFRAIN
  Nagalite
  
  
  
  
• *** LUCY KRUGER & THE LOST BOYS ***
  Pale Bloom
  
  
  
  
• OTAY:ONII
  Love Is In The Shit
  
  
  
  
• PONTE DEL DIAVOLO
  De Venom Natura
  
  
  
• RED KITE
  This Too Shall Pass
  
  
  
• SABA ALIZADEH
  Rituals Of The Last Dawn
  
  
  
• SMÅLAND
  Oro Och Ältande
  
  
  
• SUNN O)))
  sunn O)))
  
  
  
• VOIVOD
  Symphonique
  
  
  
• WORK MONEY DEATH
  A Portal To Here
  
  
  
• YAZZ AHMED
  Shinrin-Yoku

SABA ALIZADEH - Rituals Of The Last Dawn

"This album is my offering

To every sunrise that lifts us,

To every sunset that humbles us,

To the fragile beauty of each passing light we live to witness,

And to the countless souls

Whose dawns and dusks

Were stolen by cruel wars."

SABA ALIZADEH - Rituals Of The Last Dawn (LP) (2026)

I'm trying to diet concerning live shows and new music purchases right now, but it's not always easy. And here's the one temptation of last week's Bandcamp Friday I couldn't possibly resist, because it immediately spoke to me so strongly.

On his fourth album Iranian kamancheh virtuoso and Experimental musician Saba Alizadeh returns to Karlrecords, where he released his debut "Scattered Memories", an astounding tribute to the city of Tehran. He continued with two albums on 30M Records, his most introspective and Avantgarde work "I May Never See You Again" and - inspired by the brutally shattered Woman Life Peace movement -"Temple Of Hope". Now once again he comes with high ambitions, yet an actually less tangible conceptual foundation than on these predecessors - albeit with all the more power of both raw and complex immersive expression.

"Rituals Of The Last Dawn" consists of two long-form pieces recorded in the Netherlands and Belgium, "First Ritual" and "Last Ritual", each conceived with one musical partner: Pietro Caramelli on guitar and electronics on side A and Liew Niyomkam on lap steel guitar and electronics on side B.
Most of their contribution lies in providing a deeply atmospheric Ambient backdrop and congenial accompaniment to Alizadeh, who fully concentrates on pouring out his soul through the spike fiddle.

The resulting music delivers what the artist's dedication on the albums's backcover promised. This is the sound of concurrent tears and joy, devastation and hope in the face of cruelty and grace, small incidents and overarching fate, a prism and kaleidoscopic mirror of every aspect of the human experience the listener might put into it.

And that's ultimately one of the greatest gifts music has to offer: To be a voice beyond the limits of verbal communication or even formulated thought. Through the rich viola-like wail and metallic overtone of its steel strings Alizadeh's Persian instrument just speaks directly to the heart with an emotional truth and intensity you far from encounter on a daily basis.

Through light and dark you can fully entrust yourself to these rituals of unbounded beauty!

Veil of Stuff feat. EXTERIOR PALNET, FUTUROPACO, SABA ALIZADEH and SOPHIA DJEBEL ROSE

Four reviews of mine on Veil of Sound again. Time for one of these posts again! This time it's a little trip through Europe and beyond and we're starting in Croatia...

EXTERIOR PALNET - Haragma II (2025)

[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Short but sick is this assault of Dissonant Cosmic Progressive Avantgarde Black Metal, which is heavily inspired by the Sci-fi Thrash Metal of Vektor and old Voivod, including the raw vocal performance very akin to the phase from "Rrröööaaarrr" to "Killing Technology". You'll find playful quirky Virus grooves, Blut Aus Nord sensory overkill as well as surprisingly strong melodies on this self-released killer album. Bursting with creative brutality "Haragma II" surely is among the best Extreme Metal releases of the year so far!

FUTUROPACO - Fortezza Di Vetro Vol.2 (LP) (2025)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Our next destination is Italy, well California actually. But once again Justin Pinkerton makes his signature mix of Psychedelic Surf Rock, Folk, Funk and Library Music sound so very Mediterranean that it feels as if you're having the most adventurous summer of your youth on a Vespa trip between Venice and Sicilia. Especially the Jaki Liebezeit worshipping drumming and the tasteful dynamic production make this grooving and sparkling journey a highly addictive experience, before you come down to the most relaxed Geir Sundstøl vibes of the title track.

With Jakob Skøtt's typical El Paraiso Records artwork this continuation of Futuropaco's last album from 2023 is of course also a wonderful addition to the vinyl collection!

elparaisorecords · Futuropaco: "Crollo Capitalista"

SOPHIA DJEBEL ROSE - Sécheresse (Ashen White vinyl LP) (2025)

[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

Next stops: France and Morrocco with singer / songwriter Sophia Djebel Rose (who I happened to see live in an intimate show just a couple of weeks ago) and her hauntingly beautiful Chanson Noire. A guitar, organic drones and a mesmerizing charismatic vocal performance are the cornerstones of her feminist Folk between 70's Avantgarde and contemporary Gothic. "Sécheresse" is powerful poetry become sound, a richly minimalist, touching masterpiece beyond genre restrictions.

Released by WV Sorcerer Productions it's a given that the physical copy is beauty, white vinyl, OBI strip and all... a shame that posting the fantastic cover artwork is often prohibited or punished by the bots of our brave new anti-social media world!

B

SABA ALIZADEH - Temple Of Hope (2025)
[MY REVIEW ON VEIL OF SOUND.COM ]

The final part of this trip brings us far through Northern Africa and the Near East to Iran, home country of composer and masterful kamancheh player Saba Alizadeh. His new electro-acoustic Ambient album, which utilizes the yearning sound of the string instrument alongside modular synths, no-input mixer sound effects, samples and appearances of guest vocalists, is inspired by the events during the "Woman Life Freedom" movement in September 2022, which was brutally shattered by the regime.

With its merging of Experimental Electronic, Modern Classical and traditional Middle Eastern music "Temple Of Hope" paints an intriguing picture of kaleidoscopic fragments, atmospheres and songs. A very serious but all the more beautiful and rewarding album.

SABA ALIZADEH - I May Never See You Again

30M Records is a young label from Hamburg taking up the cause of spreading the gospel of experimental music from Iran. Fittingly one of the first 30M releases is from the one Iranian musician who I can already instantly name from the top of my head, since his last work "Scattered Memories" (on Karlrecords) left a huge impression on me and consequently ended up in the ranking of my top 22 favorite albums of 2019.

SABA ALIZADEH - I May Never See You Again (2021)

Given the title of its predecessor it seems a bit monothematic when the promo text for the new album talks about "meditations on the subject of memory". This new album is different than "Scattered Memories" though.
Where that album heavily featured the city of Tehran in themes and samples, "I May Never See You Again" comes across as a closer, yet more abstract internal monologue.

The pieces which are easisest to access are probably the two collaborations with German singer  Andreas Spechtl (Ja, Panik), who irradiates a calmness, which reminds me of Toby Driver's last solo albums, respectively the smoother performances on later Kayo Dot records.

There are also tracks, which prominently focus on Saba Alizadeh's masterful spike fiddle craft and partly pair it with haunting droning electric sounds. Due to the longing atmospheric tone of the kamancheh I find those very easy to enjoy, too.

The more experimental Alizadeh gets, the more it sounds like his music has been recorded somewhere in a metaphysical space within the body, and sometimes the intimacity created by this is a little much to bear, be it in "Ablution", which seems to drown in bubbling and rushing inner ear noises or in the closer "Azin", which finally goes too "artsy" for me. It's just uncomfortably close breathing noises, and I frankly cannot stand it. Luckily skipping this shortens the whole listening experience only insignificantly - and pieces like "Norouz 99", "Phasing Shadows" or the title track more than make up for it.

All in all Saba Alizadeh once again leads the listener on a subtle sonic adventure, which demands and rewards attention.

However as an entirety "I May Never See You Again" doesn't feel as cohesive as "Scattered Memories" for me. I'm mostly missing parts of the richness in Persion folkloristic influences and field recordings, which made that release so spectacular and tied it together, here.

SABA ALIZADEH - Scattered Memories

Horizonterweiterung ist immer gut. Believe it or not, aber ich hatte bisher tatsächlich noch kein Album in meiner Sammlung, auf dem die Kamantsche (oder auch iranische Stachelgeige, wie wir alle selbstverständlich schon immer wussten) im Mittelpunkt steht.

Karl Records sei Dank hat sich dies nun geändert. 

SABA ALIZADEH - Scattered Memories (LP) (2019)

Der Klang der Kamtsche an sich sollte jedem, der nicht taub durchs Leben geht, bekannt sein. Egal ob gestrichen oder gezupft; wenn man in traditoneller persischer Musik ein Instrument hört, welches stark an eine Violine erinnert, dann darf man mit gesundem Selbstbewusstsein "Bingo!" rufen. Die Stahlsaiten geben dem Intrument im Vergleich jedoch einen mal raueren, mal geisterhaft hohlen, metallischen Oberton.

Saba Alizadeh ist ein Virtuose auf dem Instrument und verbindet sein hoffnungsvolles bis ominös bedrohliches Spiel auf den zehn Tracks von "Scattered Memories" mit sphärischen Synthesizersounds und zahlreichen Samples, darunter ASMR-artige Stimmen ("Would You Remember Me"), Naturklänge ("Dream"), in erster Linie jedoch urbane Feldaufnahmen aus seiner Heimatstadt Teheran.

Das Resultat ist eine Sammlung experimenteller Klangskulpturen zwischen Tradition und Elektronik, Ambient und Drone, welche niemals prätentiös daher kommt, sondern einen einfach nur packt und mit dichter, einzigartiger Stimmung umhüllt.

Ein ganz hervorragendes Werk, um sich entspannt zurückgelehnt magisch einlullen zu lassen.

Der Ohlsen, der dieses Album unbedingt auf qualitativ hochwertiger Vinylpressung haben musste, kaufte u.a. auch: Jozef van Wissem, NYIÞ, The Thing With Five Eyes, Dylan Carlson, Insect Ark.