Mike D releases his first-ever solo album, our album of the week, while Erykah Badu and The Alchemist finally unveil their long-teased collaboration. Alabama Shakes, Interpol and Dinosaur Jr. all return from long absences, Floating Points turns a ballet score into a record, and Turnstile’s reworked record features none other than Elton John. Plus Busta Rhymes revisits J Dilla, Saul Williams and Coki go their own ways, LA Priest and John Carroll Kirby explore the electronic fringes, a Grammy-winning contemporary-classical record from Donnacha Dennehy and a first live album from Pulp.
Nialler9 keeps a rolling list of Irish album releases for 2026.
New Albums and Releases
New Albums + EPs
Album of the week: Mike D – Thank You
The first-ever solo album from a member of the Beastie Boys, and the first full-length from the surviving pair since 2011’s Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. Michael Diamond had stepped away from music entirely after the death of Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch in 2012 brought the group to an end, pouring himself into fatherhood instead. His way back in came through his sons: a surprise appearance with Skyler and Davis Diamond’s band Very Nice Person snowballed into solo shows, a backing band called 5D with his sons in it, and now, at 60, a debut record of his own.
Made at low-key, experimental home-studio sessions and finished with a loose cast of collaborators, Thank You is a warm, percussion-forward record that wears its heart wide open. Singles like the Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry-indebted ‘True Colors’ and ‘Switch Up’ set the tone: playful, generous and unbothered by legacy. Diamond has said he simply wanted it to be fun and not overly serious, released into a world that too often devalues art and feeling. From a hip-hop pioneer with nothing left to prove, it is a genuine joy, and one Irish audiences got an early taste of when he previewed it at Beyond The Pale in Wicklow this summer.
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Erykah Badu & The Alchemist – Before the World Blows: The Abi and Alan Experiment
The first studio album in 16 years from Erykah Badu, the neo-soul visionary behind Baduizm and Mama’s Gun, here paired with The Alchemist, the most revered producer in underground hip-hop. The unlikely collaboration began when Badu mentioned she wanted to rap over Mobb Deep’s ‘The Realest’, an Alchemist beat, and grew over eighteen months of sessions between Dallas and Los Angeles into something far richer and stranger than a novelty.
Across sixteen tracks it folds soul, blues, funk, jazz and hazy boom-bap into one hypnotic, funny, deeply personal whole, with a guest list to match: Steve Lacy, Thundercat, Earl Sweatshirt, Kamasi Washington, Westside Gunn, DRAM and Joi.
Alabama Shakes – I Must Be Dreaming
The third album from Alabama Shakes, and their first in eleven years, following 2015’s Grammy-winning Sound & Color. Now a trio of Brittany Howard, Heath Fogg and Zac Cockrell, the band return with a warm, dreamy, psychedelic-soul record produced by Shawn Everett. Howard has described the title’s double meaning, a world that feels both terrifying and beautiful at once, and her extraordinary voice remains one of the wonders of modern American music. A hugely welcome comeback.
Busta Rhymes – Dillagence 2
A sequel to Busta Rhymes’ beloved 2007 mixtape The Dillagence, once again pairing the motormouth New York legend with the beats of the late, peerless producer J Dilla. Dillagence 2 brings in contemporary guests, Lil Wayne among them, and lead single ‘Spazzz’ proves Busta’s energy and Dilla’s soulful production remain a perfect match. A loving tribute and a real event for hip-hop heads.
Interpol – This Mirror Weighs a Ton
The eighth album from Interpol, the New York band who helped define the taut, brooding sound of early-’00s indie. Produced by Andrew Wyatt and mixed by David Fridmann, This Mirror Weighs a Ton turns its gaze on self-reflection under the weight of modern surveillance and anxiety, right down to a cover depicting a chandelier made of cameras. A return from a band who have aged into their gloom rather gracefully.
Saul Williams – Leap Life
A new album from Saul Williams, the poet, actor and musician whose work has fused spoken word, industrial hip-hop and Afrofuturist rock across a singular career. Williams remains among music’s most uncompromising voices as heard on his run of great records in the early 200s – Amethyst Rock Star (2001) · Saul Williams (2004) · The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (2007), and Leap Life promises the same fierce intelligence and restless invention.
Floating Points & the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra – Mere Mortals
The recorded version of Mere Mortals, the ballet score composed by Floating Points, the British electronic musician and neuroscientist Sam Shepherd, for the San Francisco Ballet. Premiered in 2024 with choreography by Aszure Barton, the piece reframes the myth of Pandora’s box in the age of AI. Following the extraordinary Promises, it is another ambitious step into orchestral composition from a restless, singular mind.
Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH: VERSIONS
A companion piece to Turnstile’s acclaimed 2025 album NEVER ENOUGH, collecting reworked versions and reimaginings of its tracks. The Baltimore band have spent the last few years dragging hardcore into genuinely new, melodic and boundary-blurring places, becoming one of the most beloved heavy bands on the planet in the process, and these versions extend that adventurous spirit.
The reworked album brings in a wide spread of collaborators: Elton John, Slayyyter, Dying Fetus, Porches, Hayley Williams, A.G. Cook, Floating Points, Rod Lee, Kettama, Mustafa, Julien Baker, Panda Bear, Brandon Woody, Four Tet, Dan Deacon, Blood Orange, Chanel Beads, Faye Webster, Angel Du$t, Shabaka, Oklou, Nourished By Time and Alex G.
The Linda Lindas – Gotta Get Out
The third album from The Linda Lindas, the Los Angeles quartet who went viral with ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ and have grown up into a genuinely sharp punk band. Their first for Reprise after leaving Epitaph, and the first they wrote all together in one room, Gotta Get Out stretches beyond their punk roots and features a collaboration with Hayley Williams of Paramore on the single ‘Closer’.
Donnacha Dennehy – Limina
A new record from Donnacha Dennehy, described by the New York Times as Ireland’s most important living composer and fresh from the Grammy he won last year for The Land of Winter. Out today on Nonesuch, Limina gathers premiere recordings of two of his works, the piano concerto Limina (with soloist Eliza McCarthy) and his Violin Concerto (with Stephen Waarts), performed by the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland under conductor Ryan McAdams and recorded at the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Absorbing contemporary classical music from a distinctly Irish voice.
Czarface – Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer
A new album from Czarface, the comic-book-obsessed supergroup of Inspectah Deck, Esoteric and DJ 7L, this time joined by an unlikely guest: the actor Tom Hardy, rapping under the alias Frankie Pulitzer. It sounds ridiculous on paper, but with features from Method Man, Busta Rhymes and El-P, it is played with real love for boom-bap tradition. Great, silly fun.
Prince – Timeless
A posthumous Prince release on Legacy Recordings, the latest excavation from the seemingly bottomless vault of one of the most singular artists who ever lived. Any new dispatch from the Prince archive is worth attention no matter whether you think it should be here or not. Timeless is a posthumous compilation album comprising nine studio recordings and one live recording, covering all decades of Prince’s career from the 1970s to the 2010s.
Pulp – Live!
The first-ever live album from Pulp, recorded in London, capturing the Britpop legends on the triumphant comeback tour behind last year’s More. Jarvis Cocker remains one of pop’s great frontmen, and a proper live document of this victory lap is welcome for fans.
Dinosaur Jr. – There Near
The first Dinosaur Jr. album in five years. Taking a cue from producer Rick Rubin, J Mascis steered the trio back towards the scuzzy, ear-splitting alt-rock of their earliest records, and There Near delivers exactly the wall of melodic noise the faithful want.
LA Priest – Into The Sky
The new album from LA Priest, the project of Sam Eastgate, once of the cult art-rockers Late of the Pier. He builds warped, handmade electronic pop from self-designed instruments, and his records are gloriously strange, funky and unpredictable. Into The Sky is another dispatch from a true British eccentric.
John Carroll Kirby – Piano Works 2016-2026
A decade-spanning collection from John Carroll Kirby, the Los Angeles pianist and composer whose gentle, new-age-tinged jazz has made him a Stones Throw favourite and an in-demand collaborator for the likes of Solange, Blood Orange and Frank Ocean. Piano Works 2016-2026 gathers his solo piano pieces into one contemplative unhurried whole.
Silver Valet – Rest of Your Life
The self-produced debut album from Silver Valet, an Irish multi-instrumentalist from Wicklow now based in London. Written, performed and produced entirely alone and bounced through cassette tape for a warm, saturated hiss, it sits in a woozy psych-pop space somewhere between Mac DeMarco, Conan Mockasin and Tame Impala, with a streak of oddball humour. The single ‘Hold Me’ features a notable guest on bass: John Illsley of Dire Straits.
Coki – Red Rocks
A new EP from Coki, one half of the legendary Digital Mystikz and a founding father of dubstep’s darker, heavier strain. Two decades on from the DMZ nights that birthed the sound, Coki’s productions still land with seismic weight, and Red Rocks is built for serious sound systems.
Also released this week
- Allah-Las – Sirenas
- Billy Strings – So Much For Goodbyes
- Mastodon – Marrow Deep
- Tiny Habits – Keepers
- Ty Segall – Chrome
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
