DOUBLE MWE AT LAST! - #MWE 2026 Roundup

Yes, my crazy ass finally did it.  I managed to pull off DOUBLE #MWE.  Twenty eight albums on Bluesky, twenty eight on Mastodon.

For those that don't know #MWE (or Music Writing Exercise) was a hashtag started in 2015 where you would listen to an album for every day in February, one that you've never heard before, and review it in one tweet.  Obviously, the constraints (and the very platforms) for this challenge have changed drastically over the years, but the spirit remains the same.  The point is to expose yourself to music you may never have listened to before (or just widdle down one's considerable backlog...or both...) and review it in a concise manor.

See, I get a little rambly, so I have to edit the actual posts to get to the character count.  So this blog here is not just a roundup of everything I listened to and reviewed in February 2026, but some of them have more sentences and stuff!  And because I decided to double up this year because I had two platforms (and I really wanted to get through some of my backlog), we have 56 albums to tackle.  (I did try to do Double #MWE before in 2024, but had to abort it because of a car accident.)

Get ready for a journey of music through space, time and genre, spanning the length and breadth of 70 whole years (but mostly during my lifetime):

BLUESKY

1. Janet Jackson “All For You” (2001)

Just when I thought this was gonna be a run-of-the-mill dance pop album from 2001, it switches to electro-R&B with unconventional sounds and samples.  Knocked me for a loop.  The dance pop songs are good too, just didn't want 73 mins. of that.  Wish granted!  One of her best.

2. Lenny Kravitz "5" (1998)

Some of the songs are too long, and the production is kinda wonky, but there's a few pretty good ones on here.  Has the 90's problem of being overstuffed; if it were 10 tracks, this could've been a banger.

3. The Charlatans "Us And Us Only" (1999)

Interesting direction they took this one; little more electronic than their previous works (it was '99; everybody was futzing with this stuff back then).  Not so electronic that they made beep boops instead of rock...rocks?  (I should edit these)  It still sounds like The Charlatans, but they show they have more range than mere Madchester.

4. Bear Proof Suit "A Suit To Alter Fate - 2005-2008" (2010)

One of the curiosities I partook in from the Beaker merch table at the show we played in January.  There's a lot of really cool punk/crossover shit on here.  (Online the album cover is pixilated as fuck for some reason, but on the CD it's fine.)  Recommend this hidden gem.

5. Madonna "Confessions On A Dance Floor" (2005)

Really don't get what the big deal was with this album.  "Hung Up" is the only song of note.  A couple others caught my ear, but only because they were up against the most generic four-on-the-floor dance pop 2000's money could buy.  In any other setting, I wouldn't have noticed.

6. Stevie Wonder “Songs In The Key Of Life” (1976)

Yeah, this is his best album.  There's a reason it went diamond and won his third Album Of The Year Grammy.  What a statement.

7. Van Halen "Balance" (1995)

Not worth the trouble.  Actually worse than Van Halen III; at least that one has an identity (and a handful of good songs).  "Don't Tell Me What Love Can Do" is STILL dogshit 31 years later.  Imagine hearing it literally every hour on the hour because rock stations thought this was such a big deal.  This was me in late '94.

8. Alice Merton "Visions" (2026)

Another pretty good album from Alice Merton.  I'd say better than her last two, but that's the thing; they all kinda blur together.  She's never great or terrible, but always pretty good.  Always worth at least a listen.

9. Al DiMeola "Orange And Blue" (1994)

Gets a little too new age-y in spots, but otherwise, DiMeola's compositional and improvisational skills are still top notch.  If you can get past the post-synclavier/dawn of "world music" aesthetics, there's some good songs here.

10. Death From Above 1979 "The Physical World" (2014)

A band that I heard on a comp once, then only heard of a few times afterwards.  Checked this out of the library, and it's a pretty decent hard rock record.  No (to minimal) bullshit, just a distorted bass, some drums and some vocals.

11. Megadeth (2026)

Hey, Megadeth put out a solid album to wrap things up.  It's better than most of the albums by The Big Four in the last 15 years (unfortunately low bar there).  Certainly better than 72 Seasons.  A good send-off.  (Just wish they hand't used A.I. artwork; won't be buying a copy).

12. Hi/Jack "Sunny Side Up" (2018)

How did I not know one of my friends recorded an EP at Sun Studio eight years ago?  I met them eleven years ago!  Weirdly, there's no bass guitar on this, but that's been Hi/Jack's style for most of their run.  The songs are nothin' fancy, but the idea is to get back to basics anyway.  It's rock 'n' roll; let chyer hair down.

13. Phil Collins "No Jacket Required" (1985)

A rare bird, in that side two was WAY better (and side one has "Susudio" and "Don't Lose My Number"!)  Look, I like cheese, but side one has a few too many Kraft singles.  I want dem Weyauwega curds, yo! 

14. Black Sabbath "Headless Cross" (1989)

Know what I said about Phil Collins?  This is like a little bit of Velveeta drizzled onto a stack of Kraft Singles.  A slight upgrade, but still bad (and without the good songwriting to save it either).  Title track rips, though.

15. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard “Murder Of The Universe” (2017)

Yep.  Sure is a King Gizzard album.  Gets really old about the halfway point since it's basically one long song broken up into 21 parts, with not much change.  Still not bad, but could have used a bit of a switchup at some point.

16. Willow "Ardipithecus" (2015)

Not an album I'd recommend to anyone but the hardcores (it helps that I've heard and enjoyed later albums by this then 15 year old).  She's still feeling things out (like her singing voice and lyrics), but there's some cool shit on here if you know where to look and what lens to see it through.  

17. Sabrina Carpenter "Short n' Sweet" (2024)

The Sorceress of Sex, the Scion of Summer, the Baroness of Bops.  The production and songwriting are so fucking tight and everything hits.  Put this one on and fall under its spell.  (Lyrics might be a YMMV situation; they're damn near clever, but come up a little...short.  But they're not dumb; maybe just novel.  They fit the atmosphere.)

18. Joni Mitchell "Court And Spark" (1974)

The beginning of her jazzy period.  "Help Me" and "Down To You" especially rule.  There's some top notch orchestration adding to the jazz rock foreground, filling out this technicolor trek.

19. Missy Elliot "Da Real World" (1999)

Wow, was this a dud.  Sure, when you attempt to sound futuristic, some of it's gonna come out sounding dated 27 years later, but at least Supa Dupa Fly had the songs to back it up; sheesh.  All this has is the aesthetic; no substance.  There's four tracks from 3-6 that are worth bothering with at all; the rest are not worth revisiting.

20. Clipping. "Visions Of Bodies Being Burned" (2020)

The weakest Clipping. album I've ever heard (and I've heard 'em all).  Lots of beats that aren't beats; they've done industrial well, it's kinda their thing, but this just has no sauce to it at all.  Nothing grabs me from this except a verse or two in the first third.  There Existed An Addiction To Blood (2019) was faaaar better.

21. Caroline Polachek "Pang" (2019)

The building blocks for Desire I Want To Turn Into You (2023) are there, but there's only really three songs I vibe with, maybe four.  ("Hit Me Where It Hurts", "I Give Up", "So Hot You're Hurting My Feelings" and maybe "New Normal" for the record.  The rest are kind of formless soup with great production and phenomenal vocals (seriously, how does she DO that?!?), but don't really become songs ever.  Or ideas.)

22. Hawkwind (1970)

Billy Joel quipped that his album with the band Atilla (also 1970) was "psychedelic bullshit".  I think I feel the same way about Hawkwind as a whole.  This was not for me.

23. Franz Ferdinand (2004)

Aside from track 2 being utter dogshit (seriously, who heard the finished product and signed off on it), this is a pretty good indie rock record.  It's uptempo (which is how I like this sort of thing), it has hooks, what's not to like?

24. Arctic Monkeys "Humbug" (2009)

A little more understated than their first two, but the songs are still good and they've still got the swagger.

25. Three Man Army "A Third Of A Lifetime" (1971)

A bit dated, but the songs are good.  At the time, this would've probably beat ass.  What makes this album worth listening to now is the subtle twist and turns of harmony or guitar lines that go off the beaten path; they threaten to transcend this decent but well-worn 70s rock album.  

26. Category 7 (2024)

Liked it, but wanted to love it.  Much better live (unfortunately their only tour got cancelled due to low ticket sales).  The songs are good, but they never find another gear, up or down, and it gets repetitive.  Also, the album is mastered way too hot; we're talking near-Death Magnetic levels here.  But Jon Bush still fucking HAS it.

27. Danny Brown "Atrocity Exhibition" (2016)

A nightmare trip through a funhouse full of mirrors, knowing that you're addicted to coke and you'll have to survive doing rails off of every reflective surface in there to be able to think about getting out.  And you know you probably won't.  But you can't stop.  But also there's great bars being spit and beats that fit the atmosphere, so holy shit what a trip.

28. Willow  "Petal Rock Black" (2026)

What better way to wrap this up than to explore the beginning, middle, and present of one artist, all in one decade?  [I cover one of her 2020 projects below in the Mastodon portion]  This isn't so much an album as a 26 minute collection of sketches and cool ideas; not a statement, but a vibe.  It feels laced with joy in the creative process.  If there is a statement, it's that: making shit is fun.

MASTODON

1. Outkast "Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik" (1994)

The only Outkast album I hadn't heard yet.  It's definitely of its time, but even at 18 years old each, Big Boi and Andre are solidifying their formula.  The concepts that would make them the Outkast we know and love would come later, but this already shows the architecture it hangs on.

2. Blues Traveler "Four" (1994)

This shit rips harder than you'd suspect.  There's pretty technical shredding from all four (no pun intended) band members here (especially John Popper and Chad Kinchla); "Brother John" especially is a scorcher.  But the big hits "Hook" and "Run-Around" are still awesome too.

3. The Fixx "React" (1987)

An odd bird: An EP stapled onto a live album.  Absolutely love the version of "Built For The Future" on here.  "Chase The Fire"'s pretty dope too.  An interesting set from a band in flux (and getting out of their deal with MCA by releasing this).

4. Glass Jelly Soufflé "Battle Of Heroes - OST (2020)"

Another curiosity from Gabe's Merch Table.  The concept is this is a soundtrack to an obscure Russian (Soviet?) video game lost to time that the band were able to re-discover and upload through Bandcamp.  If you like mid-90s midi (especially the Mechwarrior soundtrack), this might be for you.  Respect the kayfabe, though.

5. Mastodon "Medium Rarities" (2020)

Extremely inessential.  There's 7 songs out of 16 that aren't just instrumental or live versions.  And only 4 of those are worth more than a listen.  If you're a super Mastodon fan, you've probably already heard this.

6. Paul McCartney "McCartney II" (1980)

See, now this is interesting: one of the biggest artists in history doing some of his weirdest shit.  Experience was enhanced by the bonus disc, which has the colossal jam "Secret Friend" on it.  It's a bedroom pop album done in 1980, with a lot of the pop elbowed out for some strangeness.  And it's done in the bedroom of a Beatle.

7. Suze DeMarchi "Telelove" (1999)

The singer from Baby Animals strikes out on her own with help from her then husband Nuno Bettencourt.  It's fine for what it is, but it sounds a bit dated for 1999.  Maybe 1996 this would've hit better.  Not much caught my ear.

8. Metric "Pagans In Vegas" (2015)

Man, there's not much to say about this.  Perfectly fine, but utterly forgettable.

9. Bobby McFerrin "Medicine Music" (1990)

It's such a simple seeming thing; all you gotta do is have good rhythm and good harmony.  Completely acapella, only two songs have any other voices on them; he even makes percussion by clapping, snapping, hitting his chest and beat boxing.  Imagine one guy singing all four parts of Boyz II Men, and doing the drums.  That's this.  It just washes over you; the lyrics kind of don't even matter because the atmosphere is so delicious.

10. Decibully "City Of Festivals" (2003)

Really ramshackle and too loose to stay on beat in places.  A couple of songs worked, but really wasn't my thing.  It was ahead of the curve on being emo and hipster, but being right too early is just being wrong at the time sometimes.

11. Textures "Genotype" (2026)

NEVER thought I'd hear this.  This was announced ten years ago, then the band broke up before it came out.  Now, out of NOWHERE, here it is.  Sort of.  It's an album called "Genotype", but they wrote this one from scratch.  Which I can believe, but find strange, because like its predecessor Phenotype I only like half of it.  If you took the front half of Phenotype and the back half of Genotype, you'd get a pretty good album.  As it stands, this is fine I guess.  (Listen to the back half is what I'm saying.)

12. Morphine "The Night" (2000)

Had no idea until the last song when I was reading the booklet that the singer had died *before* the album came out (a song with the chorus "Take me with you when you go").   A slanky, low end heavy collection of tunes, like lounge music from hell.

13. Donovan "Sutras" (1996)

Rick Rubin tries to resurrect another guy w/ acoustic guitar's career, but unlike Johnny Cash, Donovan strikes out.  There's three songs worth hearing here, the rest is idea-less, meandering solo guy w/ acoustic guitar bullshit.

14. Ozzy Osbourne "Bark At The Moon" (1983)

I skimmed this album 20 or more years ago, but not enough to count as a listen.  I really only connected with the title track and "You're No Different".  This time around?  The closer "Spiders" is worth listening to, but the rest is really meh.  One cut reminded me of The Outfield's "I just wanna use your love toniiiigh" song, and not in a good way.  I suppose I liked it more overall than 2000s me, but it's an upgrade from "trash" to "eh, whatever".

15. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard “Paper Mache Dream Balloon” (2015)

A top 10 Giz album (which is high praise for a band that has almost 30).  Not my favorite, but definitely could grow on me.  It's one of their genre experiments that actually yields different results (it's more folky and laid back than most of their stuff, and in a good way).  I suspect it'll grow on me more with time too.

16. Willow & Jahnavi Harrison "R I S E" (2020)

Feels more like Jahnavi Harrison's project, but whatev.  It sounds pretty immaculate; the production and vocal harmonies are a vibe and a half.  (It does get slightly religious, which might be a turnoff for some; I'll be real, I was barely paying attention to the lyrics.  The music was so good it went over my head.)

17. Lola Young "This Wasn't Meant For You Anyway" (2024)

I really hope Lola Young is all right.  It's precisely because she's so good at writing lyrics that makes me worried.  I hear what she's saying.  And I hear what she's singing, and how much of her soul is in that delivery...I suppose, her new album sounded more positive, but also talked about cocaine, so...who the hell knows.  I hope she sticks around, because I think she's awesome.

18. Steely Dan "Gaucho" (1980)

Smuuuuug motherfuckers.  This guy's voice ruins some of these songs (and the others weren't good to begin with).  They think they're too good for everything (when singing like this) and that's why I've never been able to click with Steely Dan despite the obvious talent they never really lived up to.  On top of that, this is their worst album (the 2000s ones don't even count).  "Glamour Profession" gets genuinely great at the end ONCE HE STOPS SINGING LIKE AN ASSHOLE.  (That one drove me up a wall.)

19. Janet Jackson "Damita Jo" (2004)

Not quite as good as All For You, but still pretty good.  I'm now fully up to date on Janet Jackson albums, and I gotta say, she has a sneaky good discography.  It feels weird to say that someone who's sold over 100 million records is underrated, but that's where I'm at.

20. Death Grips “The Powers That B” (2015)

Liked it, but this double album is the absolute limit of Death Grips I could handle in one sitting.  It's also...a Death Grips album?  That's kinda it.  The only difference I can tell is there's more of it.  

21. Vylet Pony “Can Opener’s Notebook: Fish Whisperer” (2022)

Kind of a middle child between Cutiemarks (2021) and Carousel (2023) (which are my two favorites from VP), but Can Opener holds its own and is a worthy bridge in its own right.  If you're into bedroom hyperpop with a little bit of rock thrown in and lyrics that get kinda real, this is your jam.

22. Hawkwind "Bring Me The Head Of Yuri Gagarin" (1985)

THE worst album I've listened to for #MWE.  Any year.  There's several-minute long monologues that sound like acid burnouts thinking they're deep followed by music that's sub-tape recorder quality (it was bootlegged from a show in 1973).  I've, no joke, made plenty of tape recordings of band practices that sound better than this album.  Unlistenable.

23. R.E.M. "Murmur" (1983)

Was bobbing along to the first three or four tracks, then everything sounded like a low rent re-tread of "Radio Free Europe".  Still liked "Perfect Circle" and "West Of The Fields", but R.E.M. continues to be a song band for me.  C'est la vie.

24. Arctic Monkeys "Suck It And See" (2011)

Outside of tracks 5-8 and a couple of unique lyrics, this could have been any indie band, local, national or international, in 2011.  The only other time I've heard a band get "just another band"-ed so hard between records was Band Of Skulls in 2019 (and that album isn't on streaming anymore, so make of that what you will).

25. Deadly Earnest II (1980)

There are two really good songs on here ("Oklahoma's A Big O.K. For Me" and "Blues At Midnight"), but outside of that, it's mostly the shit-kicker stereotypes that kept me from listening to country music in the first place, done less than well.  (The opener is not bad, though; the outro has this haunting melody that's barely audible because of the fade; it almost sounds like it wasn't meant to be there, like it was half-erased or something, but it works beautifully).  The two really good songs illustrate that Deadly Earnest were capable of a hell of a lot more, sonically and harmonically.

26. Jar. "3 Lives" (2013)

Thank fuck for Wikipedia rabbit holes, or I never would've known the band Flybanger used a different name before and after they were on a major.  Granted, this feels pretty bog standard and 4 of the 11 songs are re-dos of Flybanger stuff, but it was fun to know it didn't just stop in 2001.

27. Converge "Jane Doe" (2001)

The screaming is not my jam at all, so I almost launched it on song one, but by track two I'd dialed in my car's settings to make it sound better, and the production POPPED.  I get it now.  This album crushes face.  And if the vocals were in a style more to my liking, I don't think it would have been any better.  I couldn't understand a single word on the album (literally not a one), but it didn't matter.  It was fuckin' RAW.  And that's the point right there.

28. Cal Tjader "Tjader Plays Mambo" (1956)

Easily the best album of 1956 (LOW fuckin' bar there, but still.)  Marimba driven Cuban jazz remastered really well; you wouldn't suspect from the fidelity that it was 70 years old.  There's a couple songs from this that have been sampled or remixed, and being there's standards, quite a few tracks will have one doing the Leo meme.  Really solid jazz album from a big name in the game.


Here's a breakdown of the years I covered for #MWE 2026:

1956: 1
1970: 1
1971: 1
1974: 1
1976: 1
1980: 3
1983: 2
1985: 2
1987: 1
1989: 1
1990: 1
1994: 3
1995: 1
1996: 1
1998: 1
1999: 3
2000: 1
2001: 2
2003: 1
2004: 2
2005: 1
2009: 1
2010: 1
2011: 1
2013: 1
2014: 1
2015: 4
2016: 1
2017: 1
2018: 1
2019: 1
2020: 4
2022: 1
2024: 3
2026: 4


Well that's it for now.  I may have promised a blog about You Never Know for February, but I've been hella busy.  And I have a three month Hit Mix that's fixing to burst, so next time will be The Spring Hit Mix 2026 (oh hey, those are gonna rhyme this year!).  We'll see what happens next.


Don't give up.