New Music Drops: February 2026

​New Music Drops is a monthly series on T&E where we share some of our favorite new releases from this year in rock, pop, metal, punk, hip-hop, and global music. For the first installment of the year, you'll find Afro-Latin spiritual jazz, neoclassical ambient soundscapes, mystical Celtic blackened death metal,​ plus many eclectic compilations and global reissues.

New Music Drops is posted on Bandcamp Friday, where all sales go directly to the artists. All selections this month from Parisa
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Pop & Rock
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V/A -  Wizzz! Volume 5
Genre: French pop
Another installment in the Wizzz! series from Born Bad Records, showcasing the crème de la crème of forgotten late sixties and early seventies French pop music. As always, a fabulous showcase of the absurdist, the grooviest, the swinging-est pop gems out there and packed with tons of liners notes about each track. This series never misses! 
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​V/A - FUTUR SIMPLE: Bongo Joe 10 Years
Genre: various, global
Swiss-based label Bongo Joe celebrates 10 years by having artists on their roster reimagine and reinterpret songs from each other’s various releases. A really neat way to showcase a retrospective in a forward-thinking way. You’ll hear lots of fusion sounds throughout - Latin, Turkish, French, etc. etc. 
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Erik Hall - Solo Three
Genre: Neoclassical
Minimal, repetitive neoclassical music with subtle variations. An homage to minimalist pioneers like Glenn Branca, Charlemagne Palestine, Laurie Spiegel, and Steve Reich - although there’s quite a lot of build and layered instrumentation so it’s quite rich and upbeat for a minimal album. An excellent listen to both zone out and tune in.
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Westside Cowboys - So Much Country ‘Til’ We Get There
Genre: Indie
Manchester-based group with a short 5-track EP that goes from the melodramatic ballads to more guitar-driven anthemic indie rock. For fans of Black Country New Road, favorite song “Don’t Throw Rocks”  
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​Various Artists - Naive Melodies
Genre: various
A tribute album to The Talking Heads reinterpreted through the lens of Black musical innovation. Artists on this compilation bring up the Afro-diasporic roots that inspired The Talking Heads career. Highlights include the organ-driven gospel cover of “Take Me to the River”, W.I.T.C.H. doing a fuzzed out version of “Once in a Lifetime”, and the softly sweet and minimal R&B reimagining of “Psycho Killer” 

Layla Murad - If My Heart Has Known Humiliation: Cairo Baidaphon Recordings ca. 1936-49
Genre: Egyptian classical
Known as the Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt, Layla Murad was a famed actress and singer in the ‘30s and ‘40s. This new compilation captures the elegance and beauty of her voice that carried all the emotional weight of living life in the spotlight. I always appreciate the restoration quality of Canary Records -- it’s clean enough to hear the intricacies of the orchestra but doesn’t lose any of the grit and soul in the recordings. 
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​Chiemi Eri - Chiemi No Mood Minyo / Chiemi No Minyoshu Vol.3
Genre: Japanese folk/pop
A new remastered reissue of the 1966 album Chiemi No Mood Minyo from famed Japanese actress and singer Chiemi Eri. A collection of min’yō folk music adapted to a modernized framework with big orchestral accompaniments. This isn’t my preferred style of folk readaptation, nevertheless it’s a fun release with beautiful singing and upbeat arrangements 

Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical - Galaxia Tropical
Genre: Cumbia
When it comes to cumbia, no one shreds like my man Ranil. Simply the best! 
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Los Roger’s de Iquitos - ¡Qué ardiente!
Genre: Cumbia
In case one stellar Peruvian cumbia reissue wasn’t enough, here’s another fantastic one via VampiSoul! 

​Mohammed Al-Harazi - Visit Me
Genre: Tarab 
The owner of Hive Mind Records has been digitizing rare cassettes from his personal collection, like this 1994 Yemeni tarab release, and putting them on Bandcamp. It’s pay what you like (including $0), and they’re only up for one month before he takes them down. Not a ton of information about these releases, but a pretty sweet project regardless. Grab ‘em while you can! 

Kabeaushe - “Untitled 1981'”
Genre: Experimental pop
Another great single from one of my highly anticipated albums of this year. An eclectic blend of pop, electronic and hip-hop from Kenyan producer Kabeaushe, an artist with a refreshingly unique vision and fully realized ideas. I think it's only a matter of him before he becomes a household name. Definitely recommend his music videos too. Full album out February 27th 

Electronic
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​Zha - Drowning
Genre: Downtempo
Textured, layered and moody downtempo four-track EP from Zha, featuring some elements of UK garage, grime and dubstep. For fans of Mount Kimbie 

Lucha Luna - Brilla Brilla
Genre: Electronic fusion
Debut from Seattle-based duo group Lucha Luna doing an electronic-driven fusion of cumbia, reggaeton, pop and post-punk. Dark synths, raging screams, all over bass-heavy club beats. “Camino por la Noche” will definitely be on repeat for me this year, definitely my favorite single of this year so far 
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Mary Lattimore & Julianna Barwick - Tragic Magic
Genre: Ambient
The most lush and dreamy collaborative album between harpist Mary Lattimore and ambient synth wizard Julianna Barwick. An earthy, almost neo-classical type of ambient album that’s fit for a fairytale
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V/A - Searching for the Dub Sublime
Genre: Dub techno
An audio soundtrack to a book released by the Indigenous Resistance label. Heavy dub, jungle, industrial and electronically-driven roots music backs up artists from around the world addressing the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Sudan, Congo and West Papua. You’ll hear political musings and poetry spoken in French, Spanish, Arabic, Swahili, Dioula and English. Favorite track: “The Moon Will Rise Again”
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Punk and Metal
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DBR - Unbearable
Genre: Post-punk
The new synth punk solo project from Berlin’s Denes Bieberich (of Laff Box and Benzin). Ultra fast, punchy, angular with a blase attitude 
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Bungee Jumpers - Not Today…
Genre: Garage punk
Heard this one on the Bandcamp recommended releases blog, sounds kinda like if you accidentally left your Snooper cassette in your pants pocket and ran it through the washer/dryer. 
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Nethilde - Edaphos
Genre: Dungeon synth
Dreary and gloomy dungeon synth from Norway. The production on this is really nice, has a eerie and cold atmosphere (as any dungeon synth should) but a richer sound than your standard super lo-fi one-man-band projects
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Lonely Pilgraim - The Belfry at World’s Edge
Genre: Dungeon synth
I find it honestly insufferable that I’m recommending more than one dungeon synth album in this post, but what can I say, Fiadh Productions has been distributing so much great stuff I can’t resist! And I know there’s others like me out there that need some good dungeon synth for when you’re playing D&D or Everdell so…anyway..lol, here’s another good one. More on the Medieval fantasy-style of dungeon synth (this particular release inspired by Glen Cook’s The Black Company) and filtered through lots of fuzz and static 
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Coscradh - Carving the Causeway
Genre: Blackened death metal
The second album from Ireland’s Coscradh that invokes Celtic heritage and ancient mysticism. As so aptly described in the liner notes, it’s a “communion of druidic science and blood, ritual aggression and linguistic resurrection”. I was very unsure of this album at first because of the shrieky vocals, but the more I listened, the more I loved it. 
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Hip-hop and R&B
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.idk - Even the Devil Smiles
Genre: Hip-hop
London-based rapper .idk new mixtape boasts stories of survival and second chances, inspired by ‘90s/00’s mixtape culture and personal stories of working through the broken criminal justice system. An absolutely stacked lineup of guest rappers and producers include RZA, Madlib, Kaytranada, Pusha T, Black Thought and more
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Jazz and Soul
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Prince Onago & Princess Muana - Inventing "The Drums of Africa" ca. June 1959
Genre: Spiritual jazz
The backstory to this record is absolutely bonkers and a must-read before listening to this album. Essentially a performance art piece of two musicians who for years had pretended to be a prince and princess from Africa and made this faux-exotica record that’s actually a pretty wild piece of spiritual jazz that may or may not be featuring Eric Dolphy and Yusef Lateef. 

Al Doum and the Faryds - Ipnagogico 
Genre: Fusion
Blending spiritual jazz, psychedelia and Afro-Latin rock with a Zappa-esque style of eccentric fusion. A large ensemble featuring not one…not two…but three sax players! And a bass clarinet! Favorite song: “Borracho”

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