What We’re Listening To This Week: May 22, 2026
Story by:
Chris Guest
Each week, the Live Music Blog team takes stock of what’s been populating their playlists and getting endlessly stuck in their heads from the week that was. These can be new releases, obscure tracks in niche genres, or classic albums dusted off due to nostalgia (or because they’re simply awesome). Enjoy what we’re listening to this week… and listen along with us if you so choose!
Revolver – The Beatles (1966)
In a fun twist, I took my own advice and “listened next” to The Beatles’ follow-up to their seminal 1965 album Rubber Soul, the fabled 1996 release Revolver.
Packed to the brim with iconic tracks that are etched into the public consciousness, such as “Yellow Submarine,” “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Taxman,” the album is just as engaging with its somewhat lesser-known tracks, such as the incredible late-album double whammy of “And Your Bird Can Sing,” which boasts some of the most impressive electric twelve-string guitar playing ever recorded, and “For No One,” a lovely, wistful ballad with an elegant, aloof trumpet solo.
Beyond that, other classics abound such as “I’m Only Sleeping,” “Got to Get You Into My Life,” and one of the Fab Four’s finest album closers: “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
An incredible album that is turning 60 years old in 2026.
Top Tracks: “Taxman,” “Eleanor Rigby…” who am I kidding, listen to them all!
Listen Next: Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles, Fifth Dimension by The Byrds, Forever Changes by Love, Aftermath by The Rolling Stones
A New World Record – Electric Light Orchestra (1976)
From the opening strains of “Tightrope” to the fade-out of “Shangri-La,” Jeff Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra keep you enthralled in their vision of space flight, magic, and celestial togetherness.
Replete with some of the group’s best songs up to that point, ELO run through all of their notable trademarks with reckless abandon: incredible harmonies, orchestral string parts interspersed throughout, straight-ahead rock and roll elements (most notably on “Rockaria!”), and prog-inflected lyrical content, such as on “Mission (A World Record).”
A tremendous album that is turning 50 years old in 2026; this ELO classic still sounds sharp as it hits the half-century mark.
Top Tracks: “Tightrope,” “Rockaria!,” “Telephone Line,” “Livin’ Thing,” “Shangri-La”
Listen Next: Discovery by Electric Light Orchestra, Ringo by Ringo Starr, Band on the Run by Paul McCartney and Wings
Quique – Seefeel (1993)
With a new Seefeel album out pretty recently (which I thoroughly enjoyed in a recent WWLT entry), it’s a great time to revisit the group’s debut studio album Quique – an enigmatic and highly engaging listen that still defies categorization well over 30 years after its release.
Intriguing sonics abound, as shoegaze-y sampled vocals intermingle with dub-style electronic drum beats as synthesizer and keyboard flourishes saunter over heavily effects-laden guitar parts. It’s a stunning collection of sounds that shouldn’t work as well as it does, but, ultimately, it’s a one-of-a-kind sound that remains vital in 2026.
This is a highly recommended album for enjoyers of shoegaze, post-rock, ambient, electronic, IDM, or anyone with an open mind when it comes to interesting music.
Top Tracks: “Climactic Phase No. 3,” “Plainsong,” “Filter Dub”
Listen Next: Beat by Bowery Electric, Hex by Bark Psychosis, Pygmalion by Slowdive, 76:14 by Global Communication
Chasing Sunsets – SUSS (2026)
The newest salvo of pedal steel-inflected ambient country from SUSS transports you to a dusty, desolate desert landscape and lets you drift across the horizon like a lost tumbleweed blown by a sultry sirocco.
If that evocative prose wasn’t enough to convince you, SUSS’s newest album lands like something of a concept album due to the fact that the album is a collection of identically named songs “Sunset” with only a Roman numeral to differentiate them – and that decision serves the album well, as it drifts along like a gossamer reverie haunted by the specter of sunsets long since past.
Ambient country is a fairly recent innovation in music, but with bands like SUSS serving as the nascent genre’s standard-bearers, the niche country adjunct will surely have impressive and somewhat surprising staying power.
Top Tracks: “Sunset II,” “Sunset IV,” “Sunset IX”
Listen Next: Balsams by Chuck Johnson, Quiet City by Pan American, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois & Roger Eno, Book of Beyond by numün
Another Week Full of Great Music
What did you listen to this week? It’s never a bad time to revisit some of your favorite songs and albums or branch out into something you thought you’d never listen to. If you’re in need of inspiration, explore our “What We’re Listening To” archives:
Header Photo Courtesy Helge Øverås/Wikimedia Commons
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