There Stands the Glass

The Top Ten Albums of April 2026
1. Ella Langley- Dandelion
Somethin’ simple.

2. Dave Douglas- Transcend
Above and beyond.

3. Marta Sanchez- For the Space You Left
Treated piano.

4. Thundercat- Distracted
Atomic dog.

5. Squarepusher- Kammerkonzert
The chamber music of tomorrow.

6. Mike and Earl Sweatshirt- Pompeii//Utility
Blurrier and slurrier.

7. Isata Kanneh-Mason- Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3
A delectable souvenir of a recital I caught in 2024.

8. Dan Penn- Smoke Filled Room
My review.

9. sunn O)))- sunn O)))
Zero tolerance for silence.

10. My New Band Believe- My New Band Believe
My review.

The Top Ten Reissues and Reimaginings of April 2026
1. Rosalía- Lux: Complete Works
Expanded version of the 2025 stunner.

2. Jimmy Scott- Falling In Love Is Wonderful
Killing me softly.

3. Kronos Quartet- Glorious Mahalia
How she got over.

The Top Ten Songs of April 2026
1. Nduduzo Makhathini- “Kuzodlula”
Blessed quietude.

2. Beth Orton- “Waiting”
Wallowing in misery.

3. Karol G and Greg Gonzalez- "Después de ti"
After you.

4. Céline Dion- “Dansons”
Jetlag is doing funny things to me.

5. Baalti and Lapgan- “Romance”
Remembering Asha Bhosle.

6. aja monet featuring Mick Jenkins and Vic Mensa- “melting clocks”
Timeless.

7. That Mexican OT- “Still Virgil”
Victory lap.

8. Quiet Light- “Self Tape”
Blue Monday.

9. Bruce Hornsby featuring Blake Mills and Bob Weir- “Might as Well Be Me, Florinda”
My review.

10. Matthew Stevens and Josh Johnson- “Hazy”
The apogee of the sound of the moment.

The Top Ten Performances of April 2026
Rapturous life events involving extensive travel precluded me from attending ten performances in April.

The previous monthly recap is here.

Trips to the record store were exercises in economy when I was a cash-strapped teen. Do I stick to the plan and buy the brand new album by the Police for $8 or should I spring for four forlorn titles in the cutout bin? I regularly gambled on quantity over quality.

Commercial failures on major labels by the likes of Ry Cooder, Funkadelic, Rory Gallagher, Marvin Gaye, Genesis, Van Dyke Parks, Lou Reed and the Who that had been reduced to a couple dollars apiece often found a home in my collection.

Bruce Hornsby’s latest release Indigo Park reminds me of many of the titles relegated to cut-out bins by daring artistic left turns. Forty years removed from his commercial peak, Hornsby has taken to producing wonderfully deranged and exceptionally intelligent music.

Much of Indigo Park resembles “The Way It Is” filtered through Animal Collective. “Alabama” references Tyler, The Creator’s “Yonkers.” Blake Mills and the recently departed Bob Weir contribute to “Might as Well Be Me, Florinda,” a loping track that sounds like the Grateful Dead’s “Bertha” played backwards.

In the pre-internet era dominated by retail chains like Camelot, Musicland, Peaches, Sound Warehouse and Tower Records, Indigo Park would have been fated for cutout bins. Hornsby, an admirably droll artist, might consider issuing vinyl copies of Indigo Park with little notches in the upper right corner.

April 2026 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Album Review: Bruce Hornsby- Indigo Park