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Wildfire Radio's Love at First Note - May 2026
[<- April 2026]
Tagging for notification purposes (if you would like to be tagged for future editions, please let me know!): @thecoolradcoffin
Olá a todos! Welcome to another installment of this monthly series in which I talk about albums I've listened to for the first time that I really, really liked.
Now we're really starting to get into the swing of things around this time of year. The sun shines brighter and the days continue to grow longer. Which means more time to listen to music! Unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere, in which case... well, what are you doing reading this? There's music to listen to!
This month, I've decided to wander a bit outside the anglosphere and include a couple of records that predominantly communicate with the listener in languages other than English. Of course I will try my best to "translate" (read: pasting into Google Translate) if I find it necessary, but I might botch one or two of these (read: pasting into Google Translate). I'll try my best though!
On an unrelated note, I'm gonna try to make my writing less stilted beginning with this month since I feel like I still write too much like (sigh) ChatGPT. This might or might not affect the length and/or quality of my reviews. We'll see what happens.
As always, I'm open to recommendations. You can either send me a message or comment.
With all that out of the way, let's now turn our attention to our lucky picks of the month. Gleðilega hlustun!
This Month's Picks
Kaátaìra - Caminhos de Água (2026)
Folk Metal, Avant-Garde Metal, Avant-Folk Nature Recordings, Atmospheric Black Metal, Brazilian Folk Music, Post-Minimalism, Post-Metal
You think you know what a busy person looks like? Look no further than Brazilian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Caio Lemos. He has released multiple records under various aliases while contributing to multiple different projects by others. Kaatayra (occasionally spelled Kaátaíra or, as on this album, Kaátaìra) is indisputably his most prolific artistic endeavor; it sprung to life in 2019 and Lemos has released six studio albums under the name to positive reception. His newest one here is the five-years-later followup to 2021's Inpariquipê, which some -- including Lemos himself -- saw as the logical conclusion of Kaatayra as a project. Befitting of its title, Caminhos de Água reestablishes the stylistic conventions with which he left off on Inpariquipê.
Now, pump the brakes for a second. See the genre list up there? Don't be fooled; even though it SAYS Caminhos de Água is a metal record, there are no distorted guitars or tremolo picking to be found here. Instead, the blast beats and black metal shrieks are accompanied by acoustic instrumentation and experimental, post-minimalist dynamics to create an enticing blend of atmoblack and indigenous Brazilian music.
For example, when a black metal project is trying to emphasize atmosphere in a song, you're typically going to see the usage of keyboards and/or synths. This record utilizes two different approaches to achieve this instead. The first incorporates woodwind instruments that oscillate between looming in the distance and carving out space to fortify the driving polyrhythms. The second uses field recordings, specifically sounds of flowing water, that serve as segues into and out of various songs on the album (including being the first thing you hear on opener "Rio Preto" and the last on closer "Remanso de Maria"), with a few instances also segueing from one track into the next. These combine with the mix of shrieks and clean vocals alongside the acoustic guitars and raw production to give Caminhos de Água a distinct sonic texture that is equal parts twinkling and tropical. In doing so, Kaatayra deliberately and wisely designates atmosphere as the lion's share of the foundation for the music itself.
As for the record's subject matter, it's basically what it says on the tin. Caminhos de Água (which roughly translates to "waterways") is, at its core, a powerfully reverent ode to the rivers of Brazil both as vital vessels for one of the most essential building blocks of life and as a significant crux of the nation's natural beauty. It also doubles as a silent tribute to Lemos' late grandmother, who passed away during the album's recording process and is posthumously featured on the first and last tracks in spoken word excerpts. In a moment of what could be interpreted as generational continuity, Lemos' young niece also appears on the title track singing along with him, whose voices complement each other to deliver a legitimately satisfying vocal harmony in addition to being one of the couple of tearjerker moments on the record (the other being closer "Remanso de Maria" dedicated to Lemos' grandmother).
All told, Caminhos de Água is simply one of the best records I've heard this year. It breathes life into a genre often finding itself running short on new creative ideas, and does so while eschewing a couple of black metal's core components. If Kaatayra has anything else in store for the future, I'll be first in line to hear it.
SCORE: 9.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Rio sem Nome", "Águas Passadas", "Caminhos de Água"
Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993)
Dream Pop, Shoegaze Space Rock Revival
Talk about bad timing. When Slowdive released their 1991 debut full-length Just For a Day, the British music press were lockstep in a mutiny against shoegaze music at the same time their attention was captured by the grunge explosion happening on the other side of the Atlantic. The backlash was no milder when Souvlaki dropped in June of 1993, when Britpop was the newest big thing. Wrote one journalist, "I would rather drown choking in a bath full of porridge than ever listen to [Souvlaki] again." To make matters worse, singer-guitarists Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell ended their relationship some time prior to the album's writing. Things got so strained that, at one point, Halstead retreated to a cottage in Wales during recording sessions on the suggestion of the band's manager and spent the next two weeks isolating himself while writing songs. "It would all be a faintly depressing tale," the album's liner notes read, "were Souvlaki itself not such a magnificent record."
As soon as the first wash of synths kicks off opener "Alison," Slowdive drench themselves in reverb and feedback-laden guitars -- hallmarks of shoegaze, thanks in part to works like Souvlaki. The dynamic range of many of these songs is pretty flat, but that's the point: dense production blends everything together to create a rabbit warren of noises, one part only minimally distinguishable, if at all, from the other. But what the record may lack in dynamic range, it excels in making melancholy sound palatable and even desirable. Cuts like "Alison" and "When the Sun Hits" are firmly within the dream pop circuit, psychedelic atmospheres and spacious songwriting reigning supreme. Others, like "Machine Gun" and "Altogether," venture further into alt-rock waters while retaining Slowdive's signature density; so oppressive, it gets, that the vocals become assimilated into the overpowering noise like the howls of a ghost on a windy night. Ambient influences play supporting roles as well; the tracks "Sing" and "Here She Comes" feature contributions from ambient music legend Brian Eno on keyboards and treatments. On the six-minute "Souvlaki Space Station," the band take the influence a step further with elements of dub added into the mix.
Halstead wrote most of the songs on Souvlaki on his own, a departure from previous efforts where the whole band would collaborate. Informed by his fragile emotional state after the shuttering of his relationship with Goswell and his stay in Wales, he injects copious melancholy into his lyrics on the record. These are conveyed in such a manner as to suggest newfound numbness to Halstead's worldview. "If I saw something good, I guess I wouldn't worry," he shrugs on "40 Days." References to drug use and altered states of mind are also common, with "Alison" surrounding a person's infatuation with the eponymous girl and her addiction. One of the songs Halstead wrote during his Wales getaway did make it onto the final album: "Dagger," telling a self-referential tale of a couple who cannot stay together because they are slowly but surely hurting each other on an emotional level, yet Halstead is too somber to feel any pain while aware that he is hurting her.
As far as shoegaze and dream pop go, you're not gonna find many works living up to those names more than Souvlaki. Despite its contemporary reception, it has retroactively become a heralded classic of the genre. "If you’re looking for the soul of Slowdive," read the liner notes, "you’ll find it here on Souvlaki, caught forever in glorious slow motion."
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Alison", "Machine Gun", "40 Days", "When the Sun Hits", "Dagger"
Knats - A Great Day in Newcastle (2026)
Jazz Fusion Jazz-Rock, Jazz Poetry
When your record begins with describing someone having "tight fists like that meme of Arthur," you know you're in for a good one. Hailing from Newcastle upon Tyne, Knats deliver their second full-length LP with a slight departure from the jazz-funk influences showcased on their debut in exchange for a warm eccentric brand of fusion.
With former black midi frontman Geordie Greep at the production helm, Knats launch into a flurry of intricate musical passages with a distinctly urban hue reflecting the band's North East roots. They don't reinvent the wheel by any stretch of the imagination, but there's no need to; their sleek execution of jazz fusion's conventions do much of the work. Horns bellow, basslines groove, drums punctuate, the whole nine yards. New addition to the band Cooper Robson provides vocals on the record, and he shifts between measured softness as if telling a bedtime story and the fervor of a religious incantation, all delivered in his archetypal Tyneside accent. Not all songs contain vocals; in fact, many of them either contain none at all or very few. But the instrumentals carry so much of the record that not all of the songs really need vocals in order to be good.
The story of A Great Day in Newcastle festers in themes of poverty and working class struggle, echoing the mining and industrial histories of many a settlement in northern England. The closing number "Farewell Johnny Miner" is perhaps the most explicit exhibition of these themes, reading as a remembrance for the workers who did not survive in the everlasting disaster of the English proletariat and partly as a lamentation of general decay. "Some live by steel, and some steal a living," Robson comments on "Wor Jackie." References to association football are also present in multiple spots throughout the record in a nod to Newcastlers' unique passion for their local club (the track "Wor Jackie" is named after Jackie Milburn, one of Newcastle United's most revered players). The lyrics on the record are clearly sentimental in some regard, and add some depth to the album's core thematic facets.
Much like this review, A Great Day in Newcastle is short on words despite holding such introspective trains of thought within it. But it's not all about the words; it's about the music, too. And for a jazz record especially, the music is just as important as the message. It's a good thing, then, that this record excels in both departments.
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "7 Bridges to Burn", "Wor Jackie", "Azure Blues", "Never Gonna Be a Boxer"
Sigur Rós - Ágætis Byrjun (1999)
Post-Rock Dream Pop, Ambient, Chamber Pop
It's cliche at this point, but I'll say it anyway: where do I start with this? Let's see here... Sigur Rós is a post-rock band from Iceland who are arguably the biggest musical act from the country after Björk. They're known for blending post-rock sensibilities with elements of ambient music and dream pop. They're also known for singing both in their native Icelandic and a fictitious language they made up called Vonlenska (aka Hopelandic) that has no set of rules and is basically gibberish.
Look, I'll just cut to the chase: Ágætis Byrjun is the group's sophomore effort and it oozes with charm before you even press play. Lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Jónsi uses a cello bow on his guitar, for starters. The band also, in addition to their native Icelandic, sing in a fictitious language they made up called Vonlenska (aka Hopelandic) that has no set of rules and is basically gibberish. On its face, that sounds like a recipe for a hodge-podge of tacky and underwhelming cuts.
But what Sigur Rós accomplish instead stands head and shoulders above anything their contemporaries overseas were doing, and that's no easy feat. Ágætis Byrjun deals vastly in the ethereal and the hypnotic, reverb-heavy as the band paradoxically conjure glacial compositions and soothingly warm soundscapes. Cuts such as "Starálfur" and "Viðrar Vel til Loftárása" see Sigur Rós incorporate classical orchestral arrangements as one of the record's calling cards. It's just euphoric every time the strings swell like the cresting of an incoming wave. On a different axis, tracks like "Hjartað Hamast (Bamm Bamm Bamm)" and "Flugufrelsarinn" lean further toward post-rock with a smidge of ambience, surreal in its slowcore-inspired progression with hazy vocals that double down on atmosphere only to disrupt it with sonorous outbursts of emotion, sometimes dreamlike but other times melancholic. "Svefn-g-Englar" feels almost like an outlier on the sonic front, a very ambient track that takes every instrumental happening with a pronounced tentativeness. Sigur Rós' mastery of capturing emotion is really showcased best on "Olsen Olsen," the lone track on the album on which Jónsi sings in Vonlenska. How is it that everything he sings on that track is total nonsense, yet he imparts so much passion into his performance that the feeling hits and resonates as if he was speaking in your own language? It certainly helps that the instrumentation and songwriting chops match the vocals in intensity, too.
Meanwhile, the lyrics tackle a few concepts both straightforwardly and in the abstract. "Svefn-g-Englar" describes a human fetus first in the womb, then being born and experiencing their first moments of life in song form. "Ný Batterí" appears to reckon with isolation as a coping mechanism in an abusive environment. The title track is a more-or-less autobiographical account of the band's reactions to their debut album, initially excited but then disillusioned with how it sounded before eventually conceding that it was "ágætis byrjun" -- "a good beginning."
If you'll allow me to indulge in another cliche, Ágætis Byrjun really is one of those records that you need to listen for yourself to understand what I'm trying to grasp at here. It's an exceptionally unique amalgamation of post-rock and dream pop and chamber music. This isn't your parents' post-rock record; I'll tell you that much.
SCORE: 8.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Svefn-g-Englar", "Starálfur", "Ný Batterí", "Olsen Olsen", "Ágætis Byrjun"
Honorable Mentions
Kneecap - Fenian (2026)
Political Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop Hip House, Drum and Bass, Grime, Acid House
Irish hip hop trio Kneecap come back wearing a darker, angrier shroud on Fenian and they've got shit to say. Unfortunately the music itself is not quite as good as the message, nor does it have as much staying power. There are interesting moments in some spots and the music never gets outright bad, but it's never quite consistently good enough to catch my ear.
SCORE: 6/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Smugglers & Scholars", "Carnival", "Liars Tale"
The Angelic Process - Weighing Souls With Sand (2007)
Drone Metal, Doomgaze Ambient, Drone, Post-Metal
Hey, that's a nice looking metal record you've got there. Chunky riffs, tight performances, solid songwriting, oppressive atmosphere. Good stuff! Now all you're missing is... the production? Where's the production? There's "sounding raw" and then there's this. No, seriously, where is the production?! This sounds like a demo! I KNOW THERE'S A GREAT ALBUM UNDER THERE!!!
SCORE: 6/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "The Promise of Snakes", "Million Year Summer", "Burning in the Undertow of God", "How to Build a Time Machine"
Boards of Canada - Inferno (2026)
Downtempo, Hauntology, IDM Ambient, Progressive Electronic, Neo-Psychedelia, Synthwave
Boards of Canada return after thirteen years of inactivity with their fifth studio album, a charming take on some uniquely cryptic and nocturnal textures with some enigmatic arrangements and song progressions. It doesn't have quite the same allure as Music Has the Right to Children, but it's certainly their most mature work to date.
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Introit", "Prophecy at 1420 MHz", "Naraka", "Into the Magic Land", "Blood in the Labyrinth", "You Retreat in Time and Space"
Wildfire Radio's Love at First Note - July 2026
[<- June 2026]
Tagging for notification purposes (if you would like to be tagged for future editions, please let me know!): @thecoolradcoffin
How do you do, fellow kids? Welcome to another installment of this monthly series in which I talk about albums I've listened to for the first time that I really, really liked.
HOT OUTSIDE. TOO FUCKING HOT OUTSIDE. I don't feel particularly keen on cooking myself medium rare in the sun, so let's listen to some good music instead. Also, I'm another year older now! I'll be booking my reservation at the local graveyard ASAP.
As always, feel free to leave any recommendations for new stuff to listen to in the replies or tags!
Kyle, tell 'em what they've won!
This Month's Picks
Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs (2018)
Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop, Drumless Glitch Hop, Jazz Rap
Pain is a sobering reality check. Pain can fester long after its immediate causes are dealt with and disposed of. Pain can also be a powerful motivator. And sometimes, just sometimes, pain has a twisted sense of humor.
Enter Thebe Kgositsile, aka Earl Sweatshirt, aged 24 at the time of the release of Some Rap Songs. Having been catapulted to fame at 16 years old, Earl has never been one to bask in his notoriety. Through a storm of prying eyes, lofty expectations and Internet sensationalism -- as well as his breakout 2015 LP I Don't Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside -- his mental health struggles have been well-documented and were the culprit of the self-cancellation of his tour in mid-2018. What's more, Earl's father and uncle passed away within a few weeks of each other that January. Although most of the album had been written before their deaths, their presence gave Some Rap Songs a veneer of nihilist gloom that past Earl projects lacked.
Some Rap Songs sounds like an abstracted and esoteric suicide note. Not only as if precipitating the death of Earl Sweatshirt himself, but so too the death of people's fractured perceptions of him as he challenges them to see him for his whole self; to take the good with the bad. Backed up by lo-fi production and jittery beats infused with eccentric samples, Earl deadpans self-destructive thoughts and fantasies ("Shattered Dreams," "Cold Summers," "Nowhere2go"), autobiographical struggles with substance abuse ("December 24," "The Mint," "Azucar"), and other musings on his past and his status as a famous rapper ("The Mint," "Eclipse," "Veins"). Tying back into the theme of familial strife, the track "Playing Possum" is a recording of his mother talking about him interspersed with archival footage of his father reciting parts of a poem; Earl had intended for his father to also be featured in a contemporary recording on the album as a conciliatory gesture toward repairing their strained relationship, but he died before the idea could be realized. The record ends with the instrumental "Riot!" which samples a song of the same name recorded by his late uncle, South African jazz legend Hugh Masekela.
Now, to revisit the beats: I've been underselling them in relation to the samples. Which is to say, on a number of Some Rap Songs, the sample is the beat. They're especially off-kilter, almost out of time, but Earl flows so seamlessly over them you wouldn't even notice if you aren't actually listening for it. "Nowhere2go" is a perfect example of this, as the sample is chopped and screwed into this glitched trance-like beat.
The bars on the record are also equal parts introspective and unassumingly cunning. Earl also really knows how to turn a phrase. On "Shattered Dreams," he could easily have used the saying, "Feeling froggy? Then leap" as a means of challenging someone to walk their talk. But he doesn't; instead he says, "Is you gon' ribbit or will you jump?" There's also a lyric on "Veins" that's so basic and elementary but still manages to carry the emotional curiosity of other, more complex ones: "Sittin' on a star, thinkin' how I'm not a star." These aren't even the best examples; there are loads more excellent bars I didn't cover here, but just know that you're not going to be disappointed if you're the type looking for lyrical phenoms in your hip hop.
Some Rap Songs was a slow burner for me. At first I thought it was good but ultimately low-energy, not realizing that the measured restraint was part of the appeal. Now I can definitely say this is my favorite hip hop record I've heard in a while from anybody not named Death Grips. A strong work of art on all fronts.
SCORE: 8.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Shattered Dreams", "Nowhere2go", "December 24", "The Mint", "Azucar", "Riot!"
Tortoise - Millions Now Living Will Never Die (1996)
Post-Rock, Experimental Rock Krautrock, Electronic, Minimalism, Math Rock, Ambient Pop
Many things in life are ambiguous to one degree or another. Chicago-based ensemble Tortoise's seminal breakthrough album Millions Now Living Will Never Die -- a record that effectively established the term "post-rock" -- is one of them. Before eventually further cementing themselves as genre legends from the release of 1998's postmodern cult classic TNT onward, Tortoise was first turning heads with this record here. And like any sufficiently ambiguous thing, Millions Now Living Will Never Die doesn't cleanly fit into any one box; their sound pulls from many different inspirations and their execution of this sound positioned them as a transitional act between post-rock forefathers like Talk Talk and Slint -- curiously enough for the latter, since their bassist David Pajo was also a member of Tortoise from 1995 to 1998 and appears on this album and TNT -- and second-wave post-rock torchbearers such as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai.
What isn't ambiguous is the band's musical talent and creativity. The LP's liner notes credits all members of the band simply as "performers," which is sort of an understatement. The band members are known to play multiple instruments, sometimes swapping between each other. The album, like all of their other ones, are purely instrumental with no vocals. The resulting sonic textures sound contradictory, yet complimentary; minimalist, yet so lush. Millions Now Living Will Never Die begins with the first track which also happens to be the longest, "Djed." The 21-minute epic, responsible for over half of the album's runtime, cascades through mysterious time signatures with childlike wonder. There's a point just before the 14-minute mark where the rhythmic flow gets abruptly cut off and corrupted, which kind of floored me to be honest. There's also prominent use of vibraphones to drive the song and provide the foundational melody, a pattern that will be continued through the remainder of the album as well.
Next up is "Glass Museum," and-- you know what, fuck it, I'm not exaggerating or being hyperbolic when I say this might be one of the best songs I've ever heard. Clumsily as I'm sure this description is going to read, the song sounds like having a dream in which I'm ambling through, well, an underwater museum constructed in a mid-century modern architectural style and decorated with retro-futurist, glossy, skeuomorphic designs. The main riff is the stuff of pure beauty, buoyed by the vibraphones I mentioned earlier. If I had to choose a favorite part, it would certainly be the bridge. All the instruments recede for just a moment, then the bass comes in unaccompanied for a couple of bars, then the rest of them crash in for a relatively (heavy emphasis on "relatively") aggressive section with an ascending vibraphone lick. It eventually approaches a climax and, after simmering down and transposing back to the main riff, rewards the listener with it and rides it out through the rest of the song. Again, one of the best songs I've ever heard.
Afterwards, we get the interlude "A Survey" sporting a marching bass line. We then move on to "The Taut and Tame," probably the most in-your-face track of the bunch propelled by percussion that sounds like slapping your hand against a catcher's mitt. "Dear Grandma and Grandpa" is an IDM-flavored number that settles deeper into a mellow melancholy. And we finally close it out with the forlorn "Along the Banks of Rivers," a masterful craft in its own right.
Another thing I can praise the album for is its willingness to engage in and brilliantly execute creative subversion in playing around with sounds. Futuristic vibes with healthy doses of psychedelia, throwing in dub and jazz influences. It's like an expedited, idealized process of coming up with a whole bunch of ideas and seeing which ones stick and which don't. It just so happens that almost all of them stick.
Strange and unconventional, Tortoise birthed the Chicago school of post-rock with their self-titled debut in 1994. This album is that child grown into a teenage prodigy with a sprawling future ahead of him on whichever path he decides to take, even if it's not always obviously intuitive. Tortoise were yet to reach their greatest heights in 1996, but Millions Now Living Will Never Die is the canon event that they needed to ultimately reach the summit.
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Djed", "Glass Museum", "Along the Banks of Rivers"
Disillusion - Back to Times of Splendor (2004)
Progressive Metal Melodic Death Metal
TL;DR: System of a Down and Dark Tranquillity team up to make an Opeth album.
There's this little pet peeve I have. A teensy-tiny peeve, miniscule. Microscopic. But a peeve nonetheless. I do not like it when so-called "melodic death metal" is actually just power metal with growling. Has anyone seen my crunchy death metal riffs? Where are my tremolo pickings and blast beats? Waiter! Waiter! The chef put too many synth leads into my melo-death album!
But on this album I hear something different. I hear... actually melodic... death metal! Disillusion, unlike some of their contemporaries, actually understood that there need to be elements of death metal in your songs to qualify as being something like death metal. But the German band isn't satisfied with simply playing melo-death; what if they got a little proggy about it?
Their answer was Back to Times of Splendor, an hour-long epic with a wealth of balance between soft and loud. Distorted melodies carve deep into the soundscape with a methodical ferocity in juxtaposition against lighter moments, where the clouds part momentarily for an acoustic or symphonic respite. The time signature changes and dizzying chord progressions are splendorous (ha ha), and the melodic parts are genuinely lovely. I must highlight opening track "And the Mirror Cracked," as it combines all of these elements wonderfully and is home to one of the most hype choruses and payoffs I've heard in a death metal record.
Andy "Vurtox" Schmidt's vocals are a treat to listen to as well, very Serj Tankian-esque. He's technically proficient without dulling any of the dramatic luster he imbues into whatever he's roaring about, and with pleasing vocal harmonies to boot. Lyrically speaking, Back to Times of Splendor touches upon multiple subjects regarding passion, loss, regret, and longing against a loosely medieval European backdrop. I'd hesitate to call this a concept album, but the threads running through each song are there.
It's really a shame Disillusion didn't gain more notoriety for this record back in the day. Back to Times of Splendor can easily stand up to many of the prog-death classics that inspired it and it's a rewarding listening experience. If you're looking for underground metal albums, this is one I recommend.
SCORE: 8/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "And the Mirror Cracked", "Back to Times of Splendor", "The Sleep of Restless Hours"
Honorable Mentions
Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)
Space Rock Revival, Neo-Psychedelia, Art Rock Dream Pop, Symphonic Rock, Shoegaze, Noise Pop, Post-Rock, Blues Rock
A slightly intriguing perspective on trippy melodic art/indie rock. Sounds like Failure on a budget and shifted two inches to the side, which isn't actually as insulting as I'm making that sound.
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space", "Electricity", "Broken Heart", "No God Only Religion", "Cop Shoot Cop..."
Loathe - A Stranger to You (2026)
Alternative Metal, Alternative Rock Metalcore, Djent, Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Industrial Metal, Progressive Metal
Metalcore/shoegaze/djent veterans Loathe are finally back with a new album, and I can't help but feel a little bit let down. Obviously I wasn't expecting another I Let It In and It Took Everything but the first couple of singles ("Gifted Every Strength," "Revenant") got my hopes up that this would be a bounce-back effort. A Stranger to You could have been much more cohesive as a whole rather than being an inconsistent playlist. Oh, and the production sounds so over-compresssed.
SCORE: 6.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Block of Flats", "Revenant", "Fangs", "Gifted Every Strength", "A Stranger to You"
Today Is the Day - Sadness Will Prevail (2002)
Avant-Garde Metal, Noise Rock, Sludge Metal Mathcore, Sound Collage, Grindcore, Post-Hardcore
Definitely one of those albums you put on when you're in a really, really foul mood. Also one of those albums that's good but you would never ever recommend to somebody else. My biggest gripe with the record is that it's a double album clocking in at a whopping 2 hours and 25 minutes. That isn't so bad on its own, but it feels like there's so much filler taking up the runtime. I wonder how many of these songs actually needed to be here. Do not try to finish this in one sitting. Also, make sure you're actually in the right mindset to listen to this album because it will fuck you up if you're not prepared.
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Criminal", "The Descent", "Invincible", "Sadness Will Prevail", "Flowers Made of Flesh", "Never Answer the Phone", "Sadness Will Prevail Theme"
Wildfire Radio's Love at First Note - April 2026
[<- March 2026]
Tagging for notification purposes (if you would like to be tagged for future editions, please let me know!): @thecoolradcoffin
Hi again, everybody! This is another edition of a monthly series in which I talk about albums I've listened to for the first time that I really, really liked.
Unfortunately not as many records as last month since I caught a stomach bug earlier this month that took me out of commission for a week. But there were a couple of albums that released this month I was especially looking forward to listen to. Maybe they show up on here?
Not much else to say, so let's get into it!
This Month's Picks
Curtis Mayfield - Curtis (1970)
Chicago Soul, Progressive Soul Funk, Psychedelic Soul
The 1970s were a bit of an odd time in the United States, politically speaking. In between the civil rights movement blossoming to its greatest legislative heights--and some of its greatest leadership losses--during the '60s and the mass white supremacist rhetorical backlash that backdropped Reagan's presidency throughout the '80s, the decade saw an inexplicably puzzled country attempting (and, frankly, failing) to pick up the pieces of the cavernous racial divide that persisted and still persists today.
Enter Curtis Mayfield. Well known up to this point as one of the faces of R&B/gospel/doo-wop group The Impressions, he departed (initially temporarily, then permanently) in pursuit of a solo career in the summer of 1970. Only a few months later, Curtis was released to instant acclaim from fans.
Breaking away from the pop soul style of The Impressions in favor of a more psychedelic and funk-informed sound, Mayfield dazzles listeners with bright and lush production, masterfully crafted progressive songwriting and boisterous instrumentation that builds up to deep grooves and buoyed by swinging rhythms. This is sometimes flipped on its head, morphing into a contemplative gloom on tracks such as "The Other Side of Town." Conversely, it's instead propelled into overdrive with optimistic, pick-me-up vibes on songs like "The Makings of You."
What truly puts the soul into Curtis are the vocal performances and lyrical focus. Often in his trademark falsetto, Mayfield openly speaks on Black America's contemporary sociopolitical concerns, especially on the topics of Black pride and intra-community struggle.
He begins with the biting "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go," decrying the state America finds itself in under the specter of worsening race relations, political corruption, environmental destruction, and failure by the masses to address or even acknowledge these issues. "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue" takes aim at strife within the broader Black community, particularly between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned Black people, with Mayfield pleading his peers to unite in the hopes that they may make greater strides toward racial equity. In more optimistic and hopeful straits, Mayfield exults an ode to progress on "Move On Up" in what is arguably the pièce de résistance of soul music. It is immediately followed up by "Miss Black America," a warm and heartfelt celebration of the achievements, beauty and pride of Black women through both struggle and triumph.
Whatever lyrical avenue Mayfield takes with fervor on Curtis, he is accompanied by endlessly innovative and sonorous soundscapes. Combined with the passionate, conscious and sentimental messages Mayfield brings to the table, it's very easy to hear why this record is hailed as a watershed moment not just for soul, but for Black music entirely.
SCORE: 8/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go", "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue", "Move On Up", "Miss Black America"
Death Grips - Bottomless Pit (2016)
Industrial Hip Hop, Abstract Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop Digital Hardcore, Noise Rock, Glitch Hop, Electro-Industrial, Synth Punk, Hardcore Hip Hop, Machine Rock
Now, I've been known to enjoy a few Death Grips tracks here and there. I am very much aware of the massive impact they've had on hip hop and experimental music. But I haven't sat down and listened to a record front to back from them, and my affection for the frenzied noise rock opener "Giving Bad People Good Ideas" encouraged me to check out Bottomless Pit.
If I had to summarize this album in three words: "Oops, all hooks!"
To get it out of the way: yes, Ride is as lyrically cryptic and abstract as ever, but I think it fits well the general rambunctiousness enveloping the album. And that's not to say he doesn't whip out snappy one-liners or introspective bars on occasion, either. "She's so beat thirsty, thought I heard a mosquito," he jeers, for instance, on "Ring a Bell." His mode of operation on this record is firmly in nihilistic and misanthropic territory as he word-vomits his way through a song, stream of consciousness and train of thought consuming him, perhaps representative of the endless cache of information and constant overstimulation the internet has wrought upon us. Or maybe I'm talking crazy.
As for the music itself, I'll repeat myself: it is hooky as fuck. Whether it's the driving, bristling synths on "Spikes," the irresistibly punchy vocal refrain on "Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood" or the bouncy keyboard licks on "Ring a Bell," Death Grips manufacture a uniquely exciting hook on nearly every track. Of course, a great hook alone does not a quality song make. The more chaotic numbers floor the gas pedal with eruptions of noise; the aforementioned "Giving Bad People Good Ideas" achieves this through dense guitars and breakneck blast beats. Other tracks opt for a more methodical approach, such as piercing synth lines on "BB Poison" or playful keyboard flourishes on "Eh."
Bottomless Pit is a demanding listen to be sure, but it's a vastly rewarding listen too. For those who like their Death Grips seared and blackened, this is your bread and butter. For all the others... well, come have a taste. Like my parents would say, it could be your favorite thing in the world.
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Giving Bad People Good Ideas", "Hot Head", "Spikes", "Eh", "BB Poison", "Three Bedrooms in a Good Neighborhood", "Ring a Bell"
Failure - Location Lost (2026)
Space Rock Revival, Alternative Rock Art Rock, Shoegaze, Post-Punk
Eleven years into their Mark II incarnation, seminal alt-rockers Failure take their brand of spacey songwriting and widen the gaps ever so slightly with a newfound psychedelic bend.
Claude Debussy once said, "Music is the space between the notes." It is advice that Failure have clearly taken to heart, and the proof is found all throughout Location Lost. There is a more pronounced focus on atmosphere and desolation than what can be found on previous Failure records to an extent. The guitars rarely get put into distortion, opting for cleaner tones on most tracks, and the drums sound drier and sparser. In a way, it's a more matured sound for the group that signals a desire to lean into more cavernous dynamics.
Make no mistake; none of this has gotten in the way of Failure's knack for solid songwriting. Perhaps it isn't as strong as it used to be on albums like Magnified or Fantastic Planet, but the core elements of intellect and the immaculate chemistry between band members remain in bloom. As for singer Ken Andrews, his voice has aged like a premium fine wine over thirty-five years into his career, still sporting his signature rich timbre with the smallest hint of rasp creeping in whenever he belts.
Location Lost makes itself at home with a combination of cold, hazy instrumentation and melancholic, introspective vocal deliveries. Take for example, "The Rising Skyline," which opts for a stripped-back and almost dreamlike approach, features guest vocals from Hayley Williams (yes, THAT Hayley Williams) and more intimate composition that gradually build toward a climactic ending. "Solid State" bears an instrumental resemblance to Fantastic Planet single "Stuck on You," as if the former were a reimagination of the latter with thirty years of hindsight. Lead single "The Air's on Fire" is undoubtedly the best ever song to be inspired by back surgery, punctuated with shoegaze-influenced guitar leads and its catchy refrain. We also have the title track and "A Way Down" emphasizing the psychedelic and drenched in reverb. The album culminates with undeniably the most desolate-sounding track of the bunch in "Moonlight Understands," anchored by one of the most haunting choruses to appear on a Failure record.
Most post-reunion albums that manage to mix new and exciting things into their sound are often seen as an old band breaking new ground. With Location Lost, Failure have gone much farther and sprouted a new branch on the ever-growing alternative rock tree. As long as the trio want to create and write and perform, they will be making waves for just a while longer.
SCORE: 8.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "The Rising Skyline", "The Air's on Fire", "A Way Down", "Moonlight Understands"
Honorable Mentions
Janelle Monáe - The ArchAndroid (2010)
Contemporary R&B, Art Pop, Progressive Soul Neo-Soul, Funk, Psychedelic Soul, Progressive Pop, Neo-Psychedelia
An ambitious Afrofuturist record that hits more than it misses, but it suffers from a steep drop-off in songwriting quality on the back end. Monáe's vocal talent is very obvious, though, and the record shows flashes of very compelling production choices that give songs some extra oomph.
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Cold War", "Tightrope", "Come Alive (The War of the Roses)", "Mushrooms & Roses"
Have a Nice Life - Deathconsciousness (2008)
Post-Punk, Shoegaze, Gothic Rock Drone, Post-Rock, Post-Industrial, Doomgaze
A noisy, funereal shoegaze offering that drags its feet through the mud after a strong and enticing start, but the back half contains some of the brightest beacons of gothic post-punk music at large.
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Bloodhail", "Waiting for Black Metal Records to Come in the Mail", "Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000", "I Don't Love", "Earthmover"
Wildfire Radio's Love At First Note - January 2026
Hey all! This is the first in what I'm planning to be a monthly series in which I talk about some of the albums I've listened to for the first time that keep me coming back for repeat listens.
The formatting of albums will include its cover art, artist/band, title, release year, genres (listed in bold), and influences (listed in italics). Underneath each, I'll write a brief and broad-strokes review of the record, give it a score out of 10, and list standout tracks.
I will also include an "honorable mentions" section at the end for first-listen albums that I liked but didn't quite make the cut.
If you've got any recommendations you'd like me to check out in the month ahead, feel free to drop them in the replies or tags.
Without further adieu, let's jump right into the albums that impressed me on first listen this month!
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Act Like You Don't Know (2023)
Deathcore Melodic Metalcore
Our first record is courtesy of Elkton, Maryland-based quintet Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Act Like You Don't Know is the group's debut full-length, and they immediately make apparent the mantra for their sound: "bring the 'core' back into 'deathcore.'" Hearkening back to the metalcore zeitgeist of the late 2000's during the MySpace era, Thus Spoke Zarathustra employs a combination of short and sweet but crushing numbers with mosh material aplenty. Tasteful samples here and there keep the pacing in check as well as a brief respite from the onslaught of noise. It's a refreshing departure from the current trend of overproduced and over-compressed breakdown bonanzas in deathcore, and it certainly isn't the last album to turn its gaze toward the glory days anytime soon.
SCORE: 7.5/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Who Are You, Henry Ford?", "Allison Morkin"
Intronaut - Prehistoricisms (2008)
Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Progressive Metal
Well, well, well. A metal record about prehistory? And it's great?! Just looking at the genre tags for this record, I was anticipating a sort of solid but otherwise unremarkable blend of Isis and Mastodon. Boy, was I glad I was wrong! Intronaut's Prehistoricisms manages to seamlessly incorporate the thick, churning sound and overcast vibe of atmo-sludge with the introspection and pushing-of-the-envelope, boundary-testing passages characteristic of prog metal with such synergy that it sculpts entire landscapes, regions, worlds with nothing but its fingertips. The cobbling together of dissonance with the jazzy technical aspects help elevate this record a step above many of its contemporaries. A few moments on the record even left me speechless, namely the extended two-drummer solo(?) at the end of "Any Port" and the eccentric, wobbly bass lines on "Australopithecus." In all, it's an underrated prog-sludge treasure that didn't deserve to fly as far under the radar as it did.
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Any Port", "Sundial", "Australopithecus", "The Reptilian Brain"
The Failsafe Device - The Failsafe Device (2002)
Mathcore, Emoviolence Deathgrind, Jazz-Rock, Brutal Death Metal, Sass, Deathcore
Speaking of "flying under the radar," how about this release? Hailing from Connecticut, The Failsafe Device formed in 2002, put out one full-length LP that went virtually unnoticed, then disbanded in 2006. Clocking in at only ten-and-a-half minutes, calling this record a "full-length" feels generous... until you turn it on. The amount of genre-hopping and switch-ups that are happening between and within songs are reminiscent of pretty much no other contemporary in the mathcore scene. Hell, the record starts out with a damn free jazz passage and it's pulled off really well. It's when they burst into the meat of the record that you're reminded this is a metal band. But the jazz elements and displays are not single-use throwaways left on the cutting room floor; they intertwine with the rest of the chaos, briefly surfacing for air before being pushed back underwater by the dizzying cacophony of screams and wails. The Failsafe Device is the definition of a hidden gem.
SCORE: 8/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Diagram 2.0", "Diagram 6.0", "Diagram 8.0"
Rosetta - The Galilean Satellites (2005)
Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Post-Metal Post-Rock, Noise, Dark Ambient, Drone
On its face, The Galilean Satellites should be a total chore to listen to. The record has two discs, the first of which contains all the metal stuff that doesn't quite resolve into anything greater than the sum of its parts, and the second disc is just a bunch of ambient noise that occasionally crests up on a waveform. The secret weapon? The band intends you to listen to both discs simultaneously so that they each synchronize with the other, and its this combination that reveals the full soundscape of the record. Weaving a tale of a man disillusioned with the world traveling to the Jovian moon Europa to build a personal utopia only to find his solitude is just as self-destructive as the world he left behind, this album launches its sound into the cosmos through its propulsion of a suffocating atmosphere, waves upon waves of crunching guitars and pounding drums drowning out the primal roars of its narrator grappling with his once triumphant but now dire predicament. The themes of space travel are amplified by its galaxy-sized riffs and churns that casts the listener adrift in outer space, now sober to the realization this place has nothing for human feet to tread upon and nothing for human minds to soothe with. It is a harrowing story with just as harrowing a soundscape.
SCORE: 9/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Départe"/"Deneb", "Absent"/"Beta Aquilae", "Au Pays Natal"/"Sol"
Honorable Mentions
Taint - The Ruin of Nová Roma (2005)
Post-Hardcore, Sludge Metal Stoner Rock, Post-Metal
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "The Sound-Out Competition", "Drunken Marksman"
Amia Venera Landscape - The Long Procession (2010)
Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Ambient, Mathcore, Post-Rock
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Ascending", "Glances (Part II)", "Marasm"
Múr - Múr (2024)
Post-Metal, Progressive Metal Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Electronic
SCORE: 7/10 STANDOUT TRACKS: "Frelsari", "Holskefla"
