New Album Quick Hits - March 2026

Some quick blurbs recapping the albums I listened to for the first time this month! I might make this a monthly series, not sure yet. It's a good way for me get some short thoughts on paper (pixels?) about records I don't have a full review ready to go for, be it for lack of content or lack of time. 

Slayyyter - WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA

Phenomenal dance music. Builds on the Sheffield-dubbed "avant-disco" sound of Britney Spears' Blackout by adding a harder edge and a knowledge of what TikTok is. One for the gays! 

Fave tracks: "DANCE...," "GAS STATION," "CRANK," "YES GODD"

Robyn - Sexistential

Consistently good record, other than the title track which didn't click for me - others will love it though! Lacks the insane highs of Body Talk and Honey but very good for being thirty years into Robyn's career.

Fave tracks: "Dopamine," "Talk to Me," "It Don't Mean a Thing"

underscores - U

They really wanted us dancing this month didn't they?? We knew from singles like "Music" and "Do It" that we were gonna have bangers, but the more subdued songs here also excel; "Lovefield" and "Body Feeling" are standouts. Hyperpop that dials the "hyper" back just a touch.

Fave tracks: "Music," "Body Feeling," "Lovefield"

War Child Records - Help(2)

Hard to evaluate as an album given it's a compilation from various artists, but there's some great stuff in here and its all going to a fantastic cause. Having Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, Cameron Winter, and Arooj Aftab on the same record is a bit surreal, but it does work. Rodrigo opting to cover The Magnetic Fields' all-time love-classic "The Book of Love" is particularly wonderful.

Fave tracks: "The Book of Love," "Black Boys on Mopeds," "Don't Fight the Young"

RAYE - This Music May Contain Hope.

Jessie Ware meets Amy Winehouse with all of the grandiosity of a Bond theme. Also reminds me a bit of Little Simz' instant classic Sometimes I Might Be Introvert and Lily Allen's recent earth-scorcher West End Girl. Stunning vocals of course, but I do find the constant drama to be slightly overwrought, and some of these song titles (along with the album title) are definitely a little too corny to forgive fully.

Fave tracks: "I Know You're Hurting" "Beware... the South London Lover Boy," "Where Is My Husband!"

Green-House - Hinterlands 

A pleasant if unexceptional ambient-ish album. Great for a dewey morning, but don't expect anything mind-blowing.

Fave tracks: Nothing in particular, meant to be heard as an album.

Harry Styles - Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Flat, plain and simple. Individual tracks are fine, but it never coalesces as an exciting record. "Aperture" promises a tension that builds to a whimper, with tracks like "Season 2 Weight Loss" failing to deliver any kind of meaningful impact. "American Girls" is charming in how Harry manages to sound like Panda Bear singing over a Cut Copy beat, and I can see why it's the one getting radio play. But by and large this album just kind of trudges on by.

Fave tracks: "American Girls," "Taste Back"