Sorting Through Browser Tabs: August 2026 Playlist
Record Room: Tuesday, 9/1
Current listening: Mandy, Indiana — URGH (2026, Sacred Bones)
9/1: It’s finally time for cooler air, raglan shirts, and denim jeans.
Yes, I’ve been extremely lax on the playlist front. No doubt. I aim for the remaining months of 2026 to be more active as I continue to keep my dying platform from falling completely by the wayside, supplanted by attention-span destructive alternatives.
Here’s an attempt at optimism:
I’m hoping that the proliferation of AI, which has already drummed up significant backlash from a largely non-consenting and unwillingly inundated public, eventually leads to renewed interest in long form reading. As subscription services have seemingly fatigued the nation due to over-saturation and the greed-incentivized tier structure, not to mention the expense consumers dish out for perceived convenience, physical media (CDs, DVDs, books) seems to be drawing new attention, the want of ownership sparking nostalgia from people who didn’t even experience it firsthand. Noting the recoil from subscriptions and AI, maybe we’ll get back to rebuilding our minds and reading for want of knowledge or simply for enrichment.
To that end, maybe the album as a whole will become something more than its streamable elements again, a thing to be experienced from track 1 till the end of side 2 as opposed to the building blocks of a digital playlist, the full existence of which is finite thanks to the whims of licensees.
Since we’re on the topic of digital playlists, (because why not call out my dislike of them while promoting my own?), here are my August selections. You can check out the Apple Music or YouTube playlists, or scroll through the videos where purchase links have been provided.
Apple Music:
YouTube:
GNOD: “The Witness (Edit)”
from the album Chronicles of Gnowt (Vol 2)
releases 10/9/26 via Rocket Recordings)
midori jaeger: “safe”
single released 8/5/26
STRANGE LOT: “Eyes For Ya”
from the s/t album
released 8/14/26 via Greenway Records
Anne-Clair: “Three Things”
from the album Do You Dream Of Me Too?
releases 9/4/26
god of war: “Lindas”
from the album molly picture
releases 10/9/26 via Julia’s War Recordings
Mildreda: “Silk Skin”
from the album Realities
released 8/26/26 via Dependent
CH’AHOM: “Cult Of Xaman”
from the album Anthropic Rites Of Sublimation
releases 9/18/26 via 20 Buck Spin
Strawberry Hands: “Dream of Water”
from the album A Jazz Blessing for the Animal
releases 9/18/26 via Otherly Love)
Concrete Vehicles: “Cut Ties”
from the 7” single “Cut Ties”
released 7/9/26 via Dine Alone Records
Tyondai Braxton: “Vali”
from the album Splayed Werks
released 8/21/26 via Erased Tapes
hana stretton: “from”
from the album tiarn
released 8/7/26 via brierfield flood press
Wrong Man: “Petty Thief”
from the album Here’s That Feeling
releases 9/11/26 via Deathwish Inc.
Westside Cowboy: “Dobro”
from the album It Goes On
released 8/21/26 via Island Records
Dis Fig: “The Account” featuring the wind between
from the album What To Make Of These Mortal Hands
releases 10/23/26 via Thrill Jockey Records
Sweeping Promises: “Rapture, Or…”
from the album You Say I Romanticize
releases 8/14/26 via Sub Pop
more eaze: “what’s wrong with the structure?”
from the album valley and structure
releases 10/9/26 via Thrill Jockey
Helen: “Dead Shark II”
from the album Linda’s Head
releases 10/2/26 via kranky
Upper Wilds: “Reaper”
from the album Mercury
released 8/28/26 via Thrill Jockey
Chat Pile: “Same Rules”
from the album Who Loves The Sun
releases 9/4/26 via The Flenser
Faith Coloccia & Tashi Dorji: “Short Lived Echo”
from the album And Their Power Was Alive
releases 9/25/26 via Whited Sepulchre
New Age Healers: “Moored”
from the album Blowing Smoke Through The Choir
releases 8/19/26
Tropical Fuck Storm: “Stepping on a Rake (Live at TV Eye NYC)”
from the album Inflatable Graveyard Vol. 2
releases 10/16/26 via Fire Records
Axis: Sova: “Blow Up”
from the album Flowerage
releases 10/23/26 via Drag City
Dinosaur Jr.: “Everything At Once”
from the album There Near
released 8/28/26 via Jagjaguwar
Russian Circles: “Seventh Seal”
from the album Nine
released 8/28/26 via Sargent House
Lustmord Lombardo: “Paleomagnetic Resonance”
from the album The Pulse Of Atoms
releases 10/2/26 via Ipecac Recordings
Protomartyr: “Feed The Sewer”
from the album Hotel Usona
releasing 9/25/26 via Domino Recording Co.)
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
