ph5

Damn wow I love it when actual good new music gets released so I don't have to rely on some bullshit gimmick for an episode. Mastodon and ETID records ranked? Really bro? No wonder you can't crack 30 monthly listeners after 5 years of this show. Anyway we're back in a big way as September was arguably 2026's strongest month for new releases yet. It was a nice reminder of why I do this. Stop reading this and start listening! Seriously! You're wasting your time! Albums discussed below:

Actress - Radical Frame

Asia Menor - Vaho

Chat Pile - Who Loves the Sun

Gilla Band - Pugnello

Krallice - Scour Order

Lucy Bedroque - c

Smidley - Murphy Horse

Tinashe - Popstar

stupid trumpet noise boooooooooooooooo August sucked! New music wise anyway. It actually wasn't that bad life wise. But this isn't a life podcast it's a music podcast! Instead of wasting your time with some half-assed reviews of a bunch of mediocre records, I'm going to waste your time by talking about two bands that were/are very important to me: Mastodon and Every Time I Die. Despite having very little in common, these two bands have had weirdly similar trajectories, and given the recent passing of Andy Williams and the new record release from Mastodon, I've been reflecting a lot on them. So yeah. This episode is about that. RIP Andy Williams and Brent Hinds.

After travelling the globe we're back with the latest episode ever. Whatever! Who cares! Any other month I probably would've just skipped it but July was full of pretty vital releases so I had to record this one. This month was filled with reminders of why I love music, but also some unfortunate reminders of why I hate the machine that exists around music. The future of this show is in jeopardy! Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. RIP to BrooklynVegan though. Fuck you Good Charlotte! Albums discussed below:

Ariana Grande - petal

Charli xcx - Music, Fashion, Film

Four Tet's Wingding Alias's Debut Album

Kelela - new avatar

Loathe - A Stranger To You

Sallow Moth - Hydrophilous Brood

SNAG - All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust

The Strokes - Reality Awaits

Halfway through 2026! You can listen to other podcasts for retrospectives of all the crazy shit that has happened so far this year, but the one thing I'm sure we all have in common is agreeing that so far, the year has....not been great! I'm talking about the music. As in the new music this year so far hasn't been great. Was that clear? Other podcasts that specialize in a topic... as, I guess, most do, if asked their feelings about the first half of the year, would say it wasn't great. So would this one. Why am I even doing this? I barely talk about this in the episode. Instead I talk about the albums below!

Chanel Beads - Your Day Will Come

Converge - Hum of Hurt

Nirosta Steel - MY SKYSCRAPER

Olivia Rodrigo - you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love

Soft Curse - Liminal Ritual

Truck Violence - The weathervane is my body

Quiet Fear - La Tierra Arriva / El Abismo Abajo

Warning - Rituals of Shame

I'm almost as shocked as you are that this episode exists. I had to reach into my deepest depths to drag this one out of me. And I'm glad I did. Recording these is fun! Probably a lot more fun than actually listening to it anyway. I wouldn't know to be honest. Anyway, here we are. Let's talk about May. When I actually had an opportunity to listen to them, there were actually a lot of great albums in May! A few that will certainly stand the test of time as the year goes on, which is something I haven't been able to say about most records I've heard this year. Plus Drake. Albums discussed below!

Boards of Canada - Inferno

Drake - Habibti

Drake - Iceman

Drake - Maid of Honour

Elder - Through Zero

Iceage - For the Love of Grace & the Hereafter

Koyo - Barely There

Panopticon - Det hjemsøkte hjertet

Pharmacist - Vertebrae After Vertebrae

Static Dress - Injury Episode

Visible Cloaks - Paradessence

Usually March is the month where winter finally decides to release its chokehold over us and give us long awaited reprieve. Unfortunately this was not the case this year. As I sit and type this on April 12, snow was still falling as of just a few days ago. Fortunately everything else in the world is going alright! Lol. But enough of that, how was the music? Mostly...fine...but one surprise release blew everything else that's come out this year out of the water. Speaking of surprises, a long-awaited return of...something occurs in this episode that long time fans have been clamouring for! At least in my head, anyway. Albums discussed below!

Bosse-de-Nage - Hidden Fires Burn Hottest

Chamber - this is goodbye...

ELUCID - I Guess U Had To Be There

James Blake - Trying Times

Kim Gordon - PLAY ME

Neurosis - An Undying Love for a Burning World

OLTH - O.

Poison the Well - Peace in Place

Welcome to the February 2026 edition of ph5. Please ignore today's date! It's irrelevant! Okay actually it's not. You'll learn why when you listen. That's not important though. What's important is that February was a killer month for new music. It was also a month that raised a few interesting questions for me, like what do we expect out of legends in their late careers? How important is being young to heavy music? Is there a mass psychosis on rock radio stations where the past 15 years don't exist? I don't really provide the answers to these questions but I sure do talk about them! Albums discussed below!

Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights

Converge - Love is Not Enough

Eyelet - Solenoid

Gorillaz - The Mountain

hemlocke springs - the apple tree under the sea

Mors Verum - Canvas

MX Lonely - All Monsters

Vibora - Egin Ez Dugun Guztia

It's cold outside. Like really cold outside. Is this the coldest January in a while? It certainly feels like it. January has been ice cold in terms of temperature, but to be honest, kinda also in terms of new music releases as well. So yeah, don't exactly go in expecting an all timer of an episode here. I did manage to salvage the episode though - barely - kinda like how vehicle owners were barely able to salvage their cars from underneath the 400 ft of snow we got this month. Oh yeah, happy new year and welcome back to the show! I waste enough of your time in the actual episode itself so I'm going to stop doing so in the description. Albums discussed below:

A*** Trump - F***** B****

A$AP Rocky - Don't Be Dumb

By Storm - My Ghosts Go Ghost

Colossal Rains - Feral Sorrow

Feels Like Heaven - Within Dreams

IDK - e.t.d.s. A Mixtape by .idk.

Joyce Manor - I Used To Go To This Bar

Stabbing - Eon of Obscenity

Lot of fun weird number stuff going on here. This is the last episode of the 5th season of ph5...5x5=25. This episode covers my top 25 record of 2025. So yeah! That's a thing I noticed. Cool right. But anyway that's it, the year's over, and that means a podcast about lists could only end with one thing - one more list, but a bigger one this time. Overall, 2025...pretty solid. Lots of great records with a few potential all timers.

In the past I've been a dick about it and made you listen to the episode to see the list but I've softened in my old age so here it is below. See you next year.

25. Militarie Gun - God Save the Gun

24. hell - submersus

23. Anxious - Bambi

22. Armand Hammer - Mercy

21. Blood Orange - Essex Honey

20. Lamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstacy

19. Kathryn Mohr - Waiting Room

18. Yellow Eyes - Confusion Gate

17. Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer

16. Dean Blunt - lucre

15. The Mars Volta - Lucro sucio

14. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power

13. La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car

12. aya - hexed!

11. Sudan Archives - The BPM

10. Turnstile - Never Enough

9. Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones

8. billy woods - GOLLIWOG

7. Sanguisugabogg - Hideous Aftermath

6. Bad Bunny - Debir Tiras Mas Fotos

5. Rosalia - Lux

4. Purelink - Faith

3. Los Thuthanaka - Los Thuthanaka

2. Deftones - private music

1. Oklou - Choke Enough

Putting out a best of November episode in the midst of the week where every publication is releasing their year end lists makes this whole thing feel about as futile as you can imagine. But the year's not over yet!! Like I've seen so many pubs putting the Cameron Winter album and songs on their year end lists and its like yo! That album came out last year! Maybe if you hadn't jumped the gun on your round ups you wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation. Anyway. November was absolutely stacked. Albums discussed below.

Armand Hammer - Mercy

The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton - AVTT/PTTN

Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin - Stygian Bough Vol. II

Ben Quad - Wisher

Blut Aus Nord - Ethereal Horizons

Lamp of Murmuur - The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy

Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer

Rosalia - Lux