April 2026 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the trailer for Finnish National Opera’s production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Festen by 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.

Emergency!

(Original image of the wrong set of Tony Williams recordings by There Stands the Glass.)

When Thundercat named The Tony Williams Lifetime’s Emergency! a perfect album in a recent Pitchfork social media post, I realized I hadn’t heard it in its entirety for more than forty years. Two cataclysmic sets of things occurred as I revisited the seventy-minute opus yesterday. 

A burst of chaos erupted almost immediately when Emergency! began to play. Unexpected good news from one family member nonetheless imposed a correspondingly demanding series of actions. I also learned that a usually imperturbable wing of my clan is struggling with a difficult challenge. Meanwhile, an ongoing debacle involving my finances took a distasteful turn for the worse.

Emergency indeed! The sudden exigencies made me long for a brigade of psychologists and accountants. My confidence was further battered by the uncomfortable realization that Emergency! is directly and indirectly a fundamental reference point for much of the avant-garde music I’ve consumed in the past decade.

Keeping such a seminal recording out of regular rotation is a personal failure. The improvisational noise made by guitarist John McLaughlin, organist Larry Young and drummer Williams in 1969 is obviously a landmark readily recognized by everyone but me.

The proto prog-punk of “Vashkar” and the violent chaos of the title track remain thrilling 57 years on. The home truths expressed on “Beyond Games” contain sentiments I couldn’t have understood as a teenager. Only the stoned hippie relic “Via De Spectrum Road” sounds dated.

Did the alarming sound of Emergency! somehow summon the spate of mind-blowing events I’m still attempting to properly address? I’m tempted to believe it’s true. So, thanks for the tip, Thundercat! I guess.

April 2023 Recap: A Monthly Exercise in Critical Transparency

Screenshot of the Irish National Opera’s trailer for Werther by There Stands the Glass.

Top Ten Albums of April

1. Tilo Weber- Tesserae

My review.

2. Zsófia Boros- El último aliento

My review.

3. El Michels Affair and Black Thought- Glorious Game

Roots-y.

4. Adam Larson- With Love, From New York City

My review.

5. Tee Grizzley and Skilla Baby- Controversy

Detroit lions.

6. Thomas Adès- Dante

Hell, purgatory and paradise.

7. Danish String Quartet- Prism V

Bach, Beethoven and Webern.

8. YoungBoy Never Broke Again- Don’t Try This at Home

Untold riches.

9. Brandee Younger- Brand New Life

Starting over.

10. Kiko El Crazy- Pila’e Teteo

Dembow frenzy.

Top Ten Songs of April

1. Shirley Collins- “High and Away”

Storm’s a-brewin’.

2. Margo Price and Particle Kid- “Hands on the Wheel”

I feel like going home.

3. Smokey Robinson- "Beside You"

Cruisin’.

4. Stik Figa featuring Blu and The Expert- "Uknowhut?"

What?

5. Killer Mike featuring El-P and thankugoodsir- "Don't Let the Devil"

Nobody speak.

6. MC Yallah- "No One Seems to Bother"

The truest type of world music.

7. Thundercat and Tame Impala- "No More Lies"

Truth.

8. Armani White and A$AP Ferg- “Silver Tooth”

Novocain.

9. NLE Choppa- "Talk Different"

Money changes everything.

10. Jessie Ware- “Begin Again”

Age of Aquarius.

Top Ten Concerts of April

1. Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the Folly Theater

My Instagram photo.

2. Adam Larson, Matt Clohesy and Jimmy Macbride at Westport Coffee House

My Instagram clip.

3. Willi Carlisle and Betse & Clarke at Knuckleheads

My Instagram photo.

4. John Mellencamp at the Midland theater

My Instagram clip.

5. Drew Williams, Seth Davis and Brian Steever at Westport Coffee House

My Instagram clip.

6. Booker T. Jones at the Folly Theater

My review.

7. Joseph Genualdi at Grant Recital Hall

My Instagram photo.

8. Anne-Marie McDermott’s master class at Grant Recital Hall

My notes.

9. Thomas Lacy at Southminster Presbyterian Church

My Instagram clip.

10. Nate Nall, Matt Hopper and Joey Panella at the Market at Meadowbrook

My Instagram photo.

The previous monthly survey is here.

May Flowers

Original image of fans at Rockfest by There Stands the Glass.

I probably won’t attempt to navigate the mayhem in an effort to catch Thundercat’s concert at the 2023 NFL Draft this evening.  The related sprawl extends the grounds of the Liberty Memorial on which I’ve attended more than a dozen festivals.  I (almost) miss hearing bands like Korn at the bygone Rockfest in the shadow of the Kansas City landmark.  Two miniature festivals are among  May concert recommendations for KCUR. 

Concert Review: Gorillaz at the Moda Center

Original image by There Stands the Glass.

Let’s get the most embarrassing bit out of the way at the top: this grown man paid $50 to attend a concert by a cartoon band on Wednesday, September 14.  But Gorillaz isn’t necessarily for the children.  In fact, the fabricated project is one of the best pop acts of the new millennium.

Having never witnessed a Gorillaz performance, I’d long been curious about the presentation.  Live footage of 12 flesh-and-blood musicians were projected on a pair of monitors on either side of a giant screen showing Gorillaz-themed animation at the Moda Center.

The amiable Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn interacted with his band and with virtual appearances by artists including Little Dragon, Slowthai and Thundercat.  Unfortunately, the in-person guest artists including Bootie Brown of the Pharcyde  and opening band EarthGang relied on tired clichés.

Enormously entertained but emotionally unmoved, I felt as if I were watching psychedelic variations of Tom and Jerry cartoons from a gargantuan couch with room for 14,000 people.  Members of the vast throng didn’t share my lackluster reaction.

Dressed as if a Hot Topic delivery truck had exploded inside the home court of the Portland Trail Blazers, fans with green hair wearing baggy pants and an inexplicable number of Korn t-shirts experienced a profound form of musical engagement that eluded me.