Welcome to Listening Habits,

a column where I share the music and musical topics I’ve been fixated on recently.

We are just over the halfway point of the year, and after a robust first quarter, the first half of 2026 has turned out to be a fascinating year of music, even when it isn't always successful. Some of our biggest artists have released their most curious music yet, sometimes in good ways even! A collection of burgeoning stars have made great strides toward realizing their potential. If there is one takeaway of this year so far, it's that there is no grand takeaway. No one can decide if music should be bubblier or uglier, hopeful or cynical. The algorithms shape what we hear, while at the same time artists are rebelling against the machine's influence. There is, however, so much yearning. Rap is in an interesting place, and so is every genre in what's left of the husk of the entire music industry. Fellas, I'm no longer scared to say it: music is good.

The Best Rap Album Of The Year (So Far)

Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, & Surf Gang - Pompeii // Utility

What happens when two of underground rap's weirdest stars come together for a whole project, rapping over ethereal, ghostly beats from the hottest production team? You get some bizarro magic. Surf Gang and Evilgiane set the sonic template: music for a dystopian nightmare on a blissful Vicodin high. Earl and MIKE bring their oddball rhyme patterns and falling-off-a-cliff droning for the most depressing club music you've ever heard. It is rap for our times, even if it's not always for the moment.

The Real Best Album Of 2026 (So Far)

Nia Archives - Emotional Junglist

The pop star for cool people put out the best cool-person pop record of the year. It's as emotional as a Taylor Swift record, as full of yearning as an Olivia Rodrigo album, but hipper, more adult, and clubbier. Nia Archives made my favorite kind of project: the soundtrack for the drive home after a depressing afterparty. A perfect record to date the wrong person to.

The Best Left Turns

Kelela - New Avatar

Charli XCX - Music, Fashion, Film

Two wildly different albums that capture their protagonists at pivot points in their careers (and maybe their lives). Kelela's sexy, Ghost in the Shell vision of post-apocalyptic R&B looks outward via introspection about an uncertain future with uncertain feelings. Charli XCX's post-superstar return to music reflects the way outward success has reshaped her interior life. You could argue Charli's album is shallow music about shallowness, but it's a lot more fun than that, even as a comedown from the feverishness of her earlier music. In comparison, Kelela is all sultriness, but with unmistakable depth. Both albums, in their own ways, express what it's like living in these confusing times.

My Favorite "How Do You Do Fellow Kids" Song

Ken Carson & Playboi Carti - "wedidit"

I'm not the biggest Ken Carson fan. I think he lacks the inventiveness of his guru Carti. But I also believe he has gotten better. I enjoyed A Great Chaos fine enough, and I believe he has the potential for continued improvement. He mostly only shows it in fits and starts, though, like right here, from his latest album Xperiment, which is probably too long and too exhausting to enjoy as a whole.

The Drake Section

My feelings about the Drake albums are on record, but I will say: I've softened a bit on all three projects. Iceman, for all its pettiness and "woe is me" histrionics, might be the best produced Drake record in a decade. And yes, I'll admit I might have been too into watching KAT on his Knicks' championship parade bus jamming to "What Did I Miss." As for Maid of Honor, I like that he went for it but it just doesn't have the replay value of Honestly, Nevermind, or even the other two 2026 albums. But Habibti is the one, particularly for these alienating times. It is Drake at his most "Marvin's Room" vulnerable and embarrassing. And the thing is, Drake is at his best when he is vulnerably embarrassing himself, just not when doing so in rap beefs.

The Other Rap Song Of The Summer

Cash Cobain - "I Wanna Rock"

We went long last time on the true song of the summer, but Cash Cobain's mashup of Uncle Luke and Usher made for a perfect record for summer nights. A song full of horny wonder and possibility that speaks to the essence of summer better than anything else out right now.

The Old Rapper Check-In

T.I. - "Let Em Know"

Benny The Butcher - "Can't Be Much"

It's been a good year for old rappers (except maybe Future). Regardless of the constant discourse about aging in rap, our most mature rappers are also becoming the most reliable and consistent. They might not try new things or new styles anymore, but they enjoy being rappers and are good at rapping, and that counts for a lot.

The Album Getting Me Ready For Fall

Steve Lacy - Oh Yeah?

Steve Lacy's latest doesn't have the pop smashes this time around, but it's an interesting document that does for me what all my favorite emo records did as a kid: make me pine for autumn's changing leaves (as much as they can change in Florida). The song above, which feels like a '90s soft-rock radio staple ... yeah, I can definitely imagine this closing an episode of Scrubs, as J.D. narrates another day of lessons learned at Sacred Heart. We need more "end of How I Met Your Mother or Grey's Anatomy" music in general.

The Secret Actual Best Album Of 2026 (So Far)

Olivia Rodrigo - You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love

I don't have to explain myself to you.

The Best 2026 Song That Didn't Fit A Category Of The Moment

If you would like to contribute a song, a suggestion, or ask a question for future installments, email me at israel@defector.com.