Mid 2026 Album Update

 We are part way through another year full of fantastic music. And while we love spinning up a single here and there, it's good to do some album listening too.  We'll start with our favorites so far in 2026, then touch on the albums we know we need to spend more time listening too, and we'll wrap with upcoming albums we are pumped for:

Favorites in Retrospect: (with a sample of each)

Lansdowne - Wish You Well



Silversun Pickups - Tenterhooks



The Format - Boycott Heaven



Black Stone Cherry - Celebrate



Tigers Jaw - Lost On You



Sevendust - One



The Maine - Joy Next Door



Sly Withers - Make My Mind Up



Deer Fang - Forest For The Trees



Shinedown - Ei8ht



Death Cab for Cutie - I Built A Tower



Switchfoot - Forever Now



Yonaka - Until You're Satisfied



The Menzingers - Everything I Ever Saw



The Pretty Reckless - Dear God


What We Need To Spend More Time With:

Eva Under Fire



Des Rocs - To Hell and Back



Evanescence - Sanctuary



Foo Fighters - Your Favorite Toy



Metric - Romanticize the Dive



Young the Giant - Victory Garden



What We Are Waiting For:

Fuel - Pendulum - 10/30


Nickelback - Everything Under The Sun- 10/30


The Haunt - Ghost - 10/29

Mayday Parade - Sugar - 7/23


Movements - Happier Now - 9/3

Judah & The Lion - I AM PRISM - 8/13

Theory of a Deadman - Part 1 Funeral Songs - 9/3


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shut Up and Rock: Embracing Lead Singer Changes

Image
If I had to pick my favorite bands from high school, the list probably looks something like this: Fuel, Live, Bush, Pearl Jam, and Collective Soul. Of that group, Pearl Jam has had the fewest lineup changes since I started listening — at least until Matt Cameron’s recent departure. Collective Soul has swapped out drummers and lead guitarists since I became a fan. Bush went on hiatus from about 2003 to 2010, with Gavin and Robin being the only returning members, and today Gavin is the lone original member still in the band. Live is its own interesting case: you can catch them touring — and it’s a fun show — but it’s essentially Ed plus touring musicians. Fuel might have the most complicated member timeline on Wikipedia. For a lot of Fuelies, the “original” band was Brett, Carl, Jeff, and Kevin — but there was a version of the band before that, and the Sunburn album was recorded with a session drummer. The 2007 Angels & Devils album featured only Carl and Jeff from that “original” ...
Read more

Something Like Alt Rock: Best of March 2026

Image
March was a crazy good month for new music, the March playlist peaked at 73 songs. March was full of drops from familiar names like Foo Fighters, Sevendust, Nickelback, U2, New Found Glory, Young the Giant, Depeche Mode, and so many more. And at the same time, lots of bands we've been following since launching Smells Like Alt Rock like: As It Is, Lansdowne, Kensington, L0L0, Dexter and Moonrocks, and The Haunt - dropped some real bangers too.  The task to cut the playlist down for the end of the month was really hard this time, we got it down to a top 20 with 5 honorable mentions. And in the next week, we will also post the 2026 Q1 playlist - a big thank you to all the bands for the great music, you are making this really difficult and we love it!  The Menzingers grabbed the top spot this month with Nobody's Heroes Top 20 Songs from the Smells Like Alt Rock Blog for March: The Menzingers - Nobody's Heroes Sullvn w/ Dicky Barrett- Raise A Glass Social Distortion - Born To K...
Read more

Something Like Alt Rock - Oct 5

Image
In case you weren't with us before - here's the deal - we listen to a bunch of new songs each week - narrow it down to some we add to monthly list, then at the end of the month, we usually have like 50 songs that we narrow down to 15 or so songs.  By our count, it's the second week of new music for October 2025, Click Read More to see what all we found this week. We'll start things with "Promises" by Mayday Parade, followed by new music from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Sawyer Hill, I Prevail, Starset, Nevertel, and Acceptance w/ The Maine. Checkout the  October List  on Spotify.  Mayday Parade - Promises The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - Perfection Sawyer Hill - Eye for Eye I Prevail - Crimson & Clover Starset - AD Astra Nevertel - Ever After Acceptance (featuring The Maine) - The Letter New Found Glory - Laugh It Off
Read more