Chugging along this year so far and can’t believe we’re already through a quarter of the year. This month I began taking a newer and more focused approach to my listening habits. I made to decision to pare down my podcast listening after embracing the hard truth that most podcasts suck and I cannot find many that I enjoy listening to on a consistent basis. Filling that time with more music has paid dividends already. I listened to about twenty albums released this month alone and I feel quite accomplished. I hope the trend continues as I am enjoying a fair amount of what I checked out.
While working on my 1991 and 2001 Billboard singles retrospective, I did some digging to find out that the charts that we’re familiar with and what I’m basing this project on started in 1958. Naturally I went on a quest to find the charts from that time period. After much searching, I struck gold thanks to archive.org and I think I found every singles charts up until the mid 2010s. I have begun transcribing them into spreadsheets and would hope to share them in some capacity in the future. In doing so, I felt like the ways I had been arbitrarily scoring the ’91 and ’01 edition could use some consistency. Starting this month, the April editions of the Billboard reviews will reflect the new (and still secret) scoring system. I think I figured it out, and if I didn’t, who cares?
There were some big releases this month that I did not highlight. I figure that somewhere else might have a better write-up and also that these albums are probably making my best of 2026, so I’ll write something about them there. Those albums include the latest releases from Poison The Well, Harry Styles, and the newest from Sturgill Simpson’s Johnny Blue Skies project.
With all that said, here’s some of my favorite listens for March 2026:
Alessia Cara – Love Or Lack Thereof
I knew very little of Alessia Cara before deciding on giving this album a spin (apparently she’s quite popular and I live in a cave, but I digress.). I had noticed that two artists I enjoy contributed their talents to the album and it was enough for me. I instantly loved Love Or Lack Thereof without even knowing that this is a live album of Cara’s better known tracks. There a warmness to these renditions that feel like a chai latte on a late winter’s afternoon. Alessia Cara has a voice that sounds timeless and this album was so entertaining and lovely that I absolutely forgot about the guest appearances by Nelly Furtado on “Shapeshifter” and Norah Jones helping out on the album’s closer “Trouble” (which is also the album’s opening track). With this being my first impression of Alessia Cara, I’m looking forward to hearing these songs in their original form.
Art School Girlfriend – Lean In
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
One of my favorite genres is “music that sounds like going to the beach in the winter”. There’s a beauty in the bleak grey expanse and a cold indifference in the salty air that springs reflection and hope. Lean In, the latest from artist Art School Girlfriend is that feeling for me. The album is explorative and fills the air, yet lyrically is so pointed and direct that I can’t help but feel like it’s speaking just to me. Lean In masterfully channels an ocean’s worth of emotion into a pulsing rhythmic trance and swallows you whole. The best part of music that feels like a wintry stroll along the shore, you can blame the tears on the cold winds and no one’s the wiser.
Child Seat – Hyperphantasia
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
According to my Apple Music, this was the album I listened to the most during the month of March. It wasn’t hard to come back to this album many, many times. With a sound reminiscent of the Y2K indie-sleaze craze, Child Seat hits hard on their third full-length record. Hyperphantasia does a great job balancing nostalgic sounds with a booming vocal performance from Madeline Mathews who sings from the soles of their feet to give this album a swagger that commands your attention. “Heart To Heart” kicks off with a synth lead straight out of the Devo playbook and is an instant party starter. “My Broken Heart” is a cathartic anthem that sounds better the louder you play it.
Courtney Barnett – Creature Of Habit
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
The latest from Courtney Barnett is an album that explores the habits and routines us humans make and how wonderfully absurd it all is. “I know you’re trying to help me”, states Barnett on “Stay In Your Lane”, the album’s opener that addresses unsolicited advice about changing who you are and how you go about your business to unfavorable results; “This never would have happened if I stayed in my lane.” Barnett’s laidback delivery is so admirable that it provides a comfort and confidence of an well-lived life and with each album that proves more true. “Mantis” plays out like a golden hour drive on the open road as an antidote to the overwhelm of daily life. Creature Of Habit is Barnett’s finest work yet.
Haute & Freddy – Big Disgrace
There’s something artists going for something grand and dramatic that grabs my attention. The duo of vocalist Michelle Buzz and drummer/percussionist Lance Shipp emerged from the shadows of songwriting for others and took their turn in the spotlight as Haute & Freddy. With Big Disgrace as their first impression, it’s a massive swing of the mallet at the carnival’s test of strength, and baby it’s a ringer. The album feels perfectly balanced as Buzz’s bombastic vocal performance is packaged within the confines of sleek synth pop instrumentation. Songs such as “Freaks” sound like you’re trapped at a dance club inside a haunted house and “Femme Hysteria” is the declaration that you’re not leaving anytime soon.
Leven Kali – LK99
I love a spiritual, meditative journey that get hidden amongst sleek soulful funky music. LK99 explores topics such as mindless selfishness (“Stars, Swipes and Credit Card Swipes”,“Grab It”) while focusing on mindful attentiveness (“BREATHE!”). There is a direction and focus to this album that becomes evident after listening for a few spins mainly due that Leven Kali has helped produce and write songs for a tremendous amount of artists like Drake, Jazmine Sullivan, and Beyonce and they have such a feel around the studio. There’s a vibration to this album and it has the ability to compliment any environment it happens to be playing in.
Lice – Miami Lice: Season Four
[website // bandcamp // instagram]
Rappers Homeboy Sandman and Aesop Rock team up once again for the fourth installment of the Lice series. Both Sandman and Rock have been releasing music on their own since the turn of the millennium and have sporadically collaborated as Lice since 2015. The beats on Season Four grow more brooding and downtrodden than the previously releases, but it helps launch the lyrics to the forefront showcasing the witticisms of both rappers. It’s clear that this partnership is a winning combination, as each track is full of proficient back and forth banter and playful storytelling.
Slag – Losing EP
Losing is the first EP released by the Brighton quintet and it’s one hell of a “how d’ya do?” The powerful vocals of Amelie Gibson are powerful and addictive and combined with the intricate guitar playing of Dan Phillips give this EP an emotional rawness that feels barely contained within these five songs. In fact, the musicianship in Slag is perfectly balanced where there are individual shining moments on every song. When “Still Here” hits it’s stride, it’s an explosion that is the most therapeutic release I’ve had all month. It might be early, but I see a bright future ahead for this band.
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