Album A Day: The First Check-in
Written by River Epperson
For the entire year of 2026, I will be listening to a new (to my ears) album every single day. Previously, I completed a version of this project in 2024 with WIUX 99.1 FM, where I successfully listened to 366 new and diverse albums in conjunction with my radio show and blog, Please Stop Talking!. This year, I am excited to share my favorite listens with Sound Stage Magazine. As of writing this on March 17, I have listened to 76 different albums, and seeing as it is already March, it seems well overdue for a check-in.
Belong - Jay Som, released 2025 via Polyvinyl Record Co.
Jay Som spent the six years between her 2019 release Anak Ko and 2025’s Belong as a working musician. She toured as a guitarist for boygenius, released an album with Palehørse’s El Kempner as Bachelor, and collaborated with the likes of Troye Sivan, Lucy Dacus, and beebadoobee. Melina Duterte’s time on the road has clearly paid off, as 2025’s Belong brings Jay Som’s trademark close-mic’d confessionalism to brand-new heights, diversifying her sound with collaborations from the likes of Jimmy Eats World’s Jim Adkins and Paramore’s Hayley Williams.
Favorite Tracks: “Cards on the Table” (with Mini Trees), “D.H”, “Past Lives” (feat. Hayley Williams)
Blind - The Sundays, released 1992 via UMG Recordings, Inc.
British indie pop band The Sundays, propelled by the crooning voice of Harriet Wheeler, released three albums in the 90s before disbanding on an extended hiatus, eventually becoming a cult favorite of alternative music listeners in the 21st century. Blind, the second of their albums released in 1992, serves as their follow-up to their international hit of a debut Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. The single“Blind” shows the band embracing a darker sound, and the B-side features a cover of Rolling Stone’s “Wild Horses,” a cult classic for listeners today.
Favorite Tracks: “Goodbye”, “Blind”, “Wild Horses”
How Come I Only Ever See Red? - Good Eve, released independently in 2026.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Chicago musician Good Eve in December of last year to talk about her debut single “Leech” forSound Stage Magazine. The following EP, titled How Come I Only Ever See Red?, is a bold and diverse embodiment of what Good Eve could be, the different versions of herself that are not yet fully discovered. It’s dreamy, grungy, enchanting, and truly a pleasure to listen to. Better yet, the debut EP was created in diy studios in Chicago by a team of Chicago-based artists. What’s not to love?
Favorite Tracks: “Silver Horses”, “The Bite”
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - The Smashing Pumpkins, released 1995 via Virgin Records.
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is undeniably the biggest album of The Smashing Pumpkins’ career, earning the band seven GRAMMY nominations and remaining the group’s only album to top the Billboard 200 after its debut at number one. This beast of a 28-track album, released as a two-disc CD and a triple LP, refuses to stick to one genre, showcasing the band’s strength and prowess across musical styles, including art rock, grunge, alternative rock, and heavy metal. Listeners of all ages and tastes are likely to find something they love in Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Favorite Tracks: “Tonight, Tonight”, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
Tear Your Heart Out (Deluxe Edition) - villagerrr, released 2024 via Winspear.
Based in Columbus, OH, villagerrr is the project of singer-songwriter Mark Allen Scott, who combines inspirations from shoegaze and alternative rock to create a sound that is intimate, lo-fi, and distinctly Midwestern. Started as a solo project in 2021, villagerrr has since expanded to a five-piece band with 2024’s Tear Your Heart, after Scott released 4 albums in 14 months on his own. The group’s 2024 release is a (mostly) folk project that expresses the intrinsic loneliness and longing that lives in the plains of the Midwest.
Favorite Tracks: “Neverrr Everrr” (with Merce Lemon), “River Ain’t Safe”
Things Take Time, Take Time - Courtney Barnett, released 2021 via Mom+Pop.
Daily life during the pandemic lockdown looked a little something like this: “Wake up… do some work and then some songwriting… go for a walk, call a friend, and then some more work.” At the time, Barnett was living in a friend’s empty Melbourne apartment, and “... a lot of the time there wasn’t much else to do,” she told Apple Music. The resulting collection of intimate and meditative rock songs feels uniquely present, painting a portrait of the mundanities of everyday pandemic life, a portrait of a romantic sort of loneliness.
Favorite Tracks: “Before You Gotta Go”, “ Write a List of Things to Look Forward To”
My full list of 2026 Album A Day listening (so far):
January
Head Over Heels - Cocteau Twins
Blind - The Sundays
Last Call For Vitriol - Superdrag
Treasure - Cocteau Twins
Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic - The Sundays
Melt - Not For Radio
Stars & Silence - The Sundays
Four Calendar Cafe - Cocteau Twins
The Ride - Catfish and the Bottlemen
The Queen is Dead - The Smiths
Secret Love - Dry Cleaning
Everyone’s Crushed - Water For Your Eyes
Peng! - Stereolab
Run & Tell - Faye Webster
Extended Play Two - Broadcast
How Come I Only Ever See Red? - Good Eve
Tremolo - My Bloody Valentine
Only One Mode - Speed
Trio - Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris
Flowers for vases / Descanos - Hayley Williams
Petals For Armor - Hayley Williams
So Much Country Till We Get There - Westside Cowboy
Part Time Punks Sessions - Whirr
Peppermint Pig - Cocteau Twins
Cry - The Sundays
Buds - Ovlov
Raw Blue (Deluxe) - Whirr
Forever is a Feeling - Lucy Dacus
Cartoon Darkness - Amyl and the Sniffers
Lotta Sea Lice - Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile
Smoke Ring For My Halo - Kurt Vile
February
New Plastic Ideas - Unwound
EP1 - Power Snatch
Projector - Geese
Now Would Be A Good Time - Folk Bitch Trio
Debí Tirar Más Fotos - Bad Bunny
Singin’ to an Empty Chair - Ratboys
Belong - Jay Som
Un Verano Sin Ti - Bad Bunny
Doomin’ Sun - Bachelor
Death in the Business of Whaling - Searows
Snocaps - Snocaps
Esexua - FKA Twigs
Wuthering Heights - Charli XCX
Precipice - Indigo de Souza
Structure - Water From Your Eyes
Slow It Down - Mini Trees
Two of Me - Momma
Moments of Clarity - Narrow Head
Anak Ko - Jay Som
Interloper - Momma
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Electric Lady Sessions - LCD Soundsystem
Room on Fire - The Strokes
Nineteen in Love - Hotline TNT
Is This It - The Strokes
Funeral - Arcade Fire
Nothing’s About To Happen To Me - Mitski
Heaven 2 - Lala Lala
March
Bloom - Beach House
Teenage Dream - Beach House
The Refrigerator - Remember Sports
Tear Your Heart Out (Deluxe Edition) - villagerrr
Brain Pain - villagerrr
Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. - Harry Styles
Like Leaves - villagerrr
Ice Melt - Crumb
Amama - Crumb
I Barely Know Her - sombr
At The Beach, In Every Life (Extended) - Gigi Perez
Things Take Time, Take Time - Courtney Barnett
No Need To Argue - The Cranberries
To The Faithful Departed - The Cranberries
Everybody Works - Jay Som
Someone Should Stop Her - Anna Shoemaker
Getting Killed - Geese
A full playlist featuring highlights from every album can be found on Apple Music!
