Weekly Album Round-up: Liz Cooper, The Sleepy Jackson, Lexa Gates, and more!
As 2026 enters its third month, it dawned on me that I'd already listened to around twenty new albums this year already, where in recent years I'd struggled to keep up to date with new releases. Given that I've regularly written passionately about music in the past alongside my football nonsense, now feels like the right time to bring back some kind of music blog, but to essentially give you the rundown of my week in music.
I may occasionally focus on the classics and various older releases, but the purpose of this weekly blog will be to shine a light on the newer releases from artists you may not have realised were still a thing, or bands that you'd never even heard of in the first place. My aim will be to listen to at least one album each day - possibly even two if time is on my side. At the end of the year, I hope to also create an extensive album of the year list. Over the course of the year, you may also see some classic album blogs. Ultimately I'm hoping to make this a regular content hub.
Anyway, we may as well dive right in - so allow me to fill you in with some of the most noteworthy new (and some older) releases I've had on rotation this week.
Sunday 1st March
Liz Cooper - New Day (2026)
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I first discovered Liz Cooper around a month ago via the title track of her latest album, which I was surprised to discover was a third album rather than a debut. In all honesty, listening to New Day had me wishing I'd discovered her music sooner, as it's an absolute masterstroke. I've pencilled it in as my early album of the year, only just scraping past Sunday Mourners' brilliant A-Rhythm Absolute.
That aforementioned title track is a brilliant ode to rebuilding oneself after a breakup, which draws on 90s revivalism brilliantly. It reminded me of something on namesake Liz Phair's 1993 classic Exile in Guyville. Other influences also shine throughout, mainly early David Bowie on the wonderfully spacy 'Loss of Signal', and Blackstar-era Bowie on the appropriately named 'Changes'. 'IDFK' is also gorgeous with a infectious chorus. Ultimately it's an album you should put on rotation immediately.
9/10
Monday 2nd March
The Sleepy Jackson - Lovers (2003)
On the bus to Vienna Airport recently, my shuffled mammoth 8,000-song Liked Songs playlist reminded me of a song by Australian band The Sleepy Jackson, 'Good Dancers', which I'd forgotten the beauty of to the extent I simply had to add its album, Lovers to my 'To Listen' list once the track had gracefully danced away into the early morning remnant darkness of Vienna Airport.
'Good Dancers' remains the swooning standout, with it working in complete opposition to some of Luke Steele's more commercially successful later work as part of Empire of the Sun, though some of that quirkniness does certainly exhibit itself in other ways. Other highlights include the impossibly dreamy 'Come to This', the addictive country-lilt of 'Miniskirt', and the infectious do-do-do-doos of 'Old Dirt Farmer'. Though I can't attest to how the album fared at the time, it certainly should be considered an indie classic some 23 years on, and it's the kind of album that feels like a home.
8/10
Tuesday 3rd March
Peaer - Doppelgänger (2026)
My introduction to Peaer was all the way back in 2017 via 'Pink Spit' - a slow, woozy, slacker anthem of sorts that for whatever reason seemed to resonate with the student version of myself - the lyrics include popping zits and smoking spliffs, so go figure I guess. In any case, I hadn't really given much of their other stuff much attention until this, their fourth effort (depending how you define an album - at 32 minutes, this is by far their longest to date).
Sadly, it feels a lot longer than that 32 minute run time. The songs are meandering and don't really go anywhere particularly exciting. 'Bad News' is probably the highlight, particularly the outro, but honestly listening to this album felt a little bit like a chore, and didn't exactly have me rushing to check out any of their earlier stuff.
5/10
Wednesday 4th March
Lexa Gates - I Am (2026)
While I was excited to check out this latest effort, it genuinely blew all my expectations out of the water in the best way possible. Every beat is filled with soul, every sung vocal delivery in the chorus with heart, and every flow, to quote A Tribe Called Quest, is smooth like butter, with it all blending together in an unmistakably New York way. The album starts with the full-throttle optimism of 'It Goes On' - seemingly a celebration of life, much like the soulful groove of 'I Don't Even Know' that follows a couple of tracks later.
The album starts and ends strongly, with the emotionally charged 'You Don't Give a F- About Me', the dreamy, laid-back vibes of 'Nothing to Worry About' which make you feel exactly that. Then there's the hilariously unhinged closer 'Serious' in which Lexa threatens to kill someone's cats over a lack of a text back - and she'll really do it if someone doesn't 'kill her cat' (wink wink, nudge nudge). It's just a small insight into a brilliant artist who doesn't take herself too seriously, yet in doing so has created one of the best, most necessarily upbeat hip-hop albums of 2026 so far. It's also probably my favourite rap album since Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal a couple of years ago.
8.5/10
Baby Keem - Ca$ino (2026)
Prior to going into this album, my knowledge of Baby Keem was virtually non-existent. Wikipedia tells me, however, that he is Kendrick Lamar's cousin, and that he released a song that went platinum in 2019. Reading through the various reviews, I was quite excited going into it, and put aside some time on Wednesday evening to listen to it alongside some vacuuming.
It was pretty much perfect for exactly that - no standouts, a decent Kendrick feature on ' Good Flirts', some nice Mac Miller vibes on 'I Am Not a Lyricist', and a flow that resembles something between Andre 3000 and Kendrick throughout. It's merely okay though - not something I'd be in a rush to listen to again.
6/10
Thursday 5th March
The Enemy - Social Disguises (2026)
The class of 2007, all grown up and almost 40 - it brings a tear to the eye. I distinctly remember The Enemy's emergence onto the scene, as 2007 was the year I'd had what I would call my musical awakening. They were one of the many NME Radar acts to watch out for that year.
The Coventry three-piece seem to have regained some cultural relevance in recent years, having not released an album since 2015, and having reunited in 2022 for various shows - Coventry City likely gaining promotion this season won't do their stock any harm either. When I saw they'd be releasing an album almost twenty years on from their excellent debut We'll Live and Die in These Towns, I was curious as to how the band who used to chat with me on MySpace in their earlier days were faring, having tended to avoid anything after the debut.
I couldn't really enjoy the album in truth - the songs felt a little derivative, and the choruses bordered on irritating at times. It might do it for some, but honestly it feels like the band haven't evolved in any meaningful way beyond their debut, even almost twenty years on. That said, I did discover a long-lost cover of Bowie's 'Five Years' from around the time of their debut which is excellent. Swings and roundabouts...
4/10
Friday 6th March
Viagra Boys - Welfare Jazz (2021)
Swedish indie outfit Viagra Boys' stock only seems to be rising (sorry), and it recently dawned on me that I'd only listened to their two most recent albums - the excellent Cave World (2022), and Viagr Aboys (2025). The time was therefore right to check out album number two, Welfare Jazz (2021). It's a fun listen, just as enjoyable as the aforementioned later projects. Think Iggy Pop over a wall of garage-rock scuzz and lyrical sleaze. Well worth a listen.
7/10
Saturday 7th March
Froth - Duress (2019)
Froth are one of the many bands that somehow always find their way into my Spotify Discover playlist, and I always find myself enjoying the few songs I've heard immensely, yet I've still not registered a listen to any of their albums. The L.A. trio dabble in shoegaze and garage-rock, which admittedly aren't genres short on exposure right now. But Duress, their fourth and (to-date) last album, does so in a way that doesn't feel derivative in the slightest.
Opening track 'Laurel' - a reference to the viral Laurel/Yanny video of seven years ago (wow, we're all ancient) - combines shoegaze and garage-rock to create something as laid-back and lazy as this comparison. The rest of the album is pretty chill throughout - traversing from the paranoid Ulrika Spacek-style claustrophobia of 'a2' to the unpronouncable 'Xvanos' with its atmispheric vibes - the title apparently stemmed from a mis-reading of a quinciniera sign (XV anos). Anyway, it's a fun album - deifnitely give it a listen.
7/10
Together Pangea - Eat Myself (2026)
Around my second year of university, I remember enjoying Together Pangea's 'Sick Shit' and 'Badillac', but much like with Peaer, I barely gave anything else of theirs a listen despite their indie slacker appeal. Around ten years on, the Californian indie outfit have released album number six, Eat Myself, and if I enjoy it, perhaps I'll venture back through their discography.
It's clear the band have evolved since my last listen, from hapless indie sadboys to something more pop-punk and perhaps more Jeff Rosenstock inspired. With that in mind, some of the harmonies certainly work well, just as a lot of the choruses do, but there's nothing here in particular that stands out or draws you back in to re-listen. It's just a relatively good bunch of pop-punk tracks that you may or may not get more out of than me.
6/10
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