Grafovna

Aaron Shaw’s And So It Is feels like a threshold album, a rare moment when an artist steps outside their earlier work and the shift becomes its own revelation. Shaw has long been one of my favorite saxophonists, yet here he reaches for something deeper and more interior. Surrounded by west coast jazz heavyweight, he creates a sound that feels less like a studio project and more like a shared descent into a spiritual realm. The music carries a collaborative energy, but it remains ... read more

Singin’ to an Empty Chair arrived on February 6 and immediately became the first great album of my 2026. Ratboys root the record in the idea of empty chair therapy, where you sit across from an imagined loved one and finally speak the truths that feel impossible to say. I had never heard of an album shaped so directly by therapy before, and that framing gives the whole thing a kind of courageous honesty. Each song reveals a different kind of vulnerability, never repeating itself, always ... read more

This is melodramatic and theatrical. It’s over the top by miles. I love it.

This is his best work yet!