The Swim Team’s Favorites of October 2026

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There’s new music coming out constantly, and oftentimes it can feel hard to keep up. Part of this is the constant swirl of social media and how fast everything moves, but it’s also a byproduct of how streaming platforms like Spotify are set up. If you’ve ever found yourself surprised to learn that your favorite band released a new song months ago, that’s kind of by design. Maybe there’s a record that you had on repeat earlier in the year but were only reminded of its existence because you scrolled deep enough back in your own library. These services would much rather keep you in their playlists and algorithmically generated radio stations than have you seek something out and make an intentional choice about what you listen to. 

Once you factor in all the other forms of entertainment vying for your attention, it can feel like an insurmountable task trying to stay up to date with any of it. I don’t wanna be “old man yells at cloud,” but part of me can’t help but think it was better when you’d get a CD or buy an album on iTunes and listen to it for weeks at a time. 

While most of us here at Swim Into The Sound spend a fair amount of time returning to old faves and digging into backlog blind spots, we’re also music nerds who love keeping up with the latest stuff and getting into needless debates over the buzzy band of the moment. Each month, The Swim Team will round up our favorite albums and songs in hopes of helping you keep up to date, see what you may have missed, or find something new you might love. 

If you find yourself wishing “I wish I were better at keeping up with new music,” this list is for you. If you find yourself overwhelmed when you open up your streaming service of choice, this list is for you. If you find yourself valuing actual human recommendations over whatever the streaming powers that be have elevated to the top, this list is for you. Fuck your algorithm, find something new. 

Records We Dug

  • Able Baker - Able Baker (Review)

  • Alien Boy - Rearrange My Mind

  • Art d’Ecco - Scheele’s Green

  • The Avalanches - No Bad Memories

  • Beauty Saloon - $25,000 EP

  • Cameron Winter - Live at Carnegie Hall

  • Caroline Rose - Gentling the Horse at the Walt Whitman Mall (Taylor's Pick)

  • Caspian - Hiraeth

  • Charlie Kaplan - Dobro

  • A Country Western - Audition Tape

  • Dazy - MAXIMUMBLASTSUPERLOUD Vol. 2: 24 Songs From 2023-2026

  • Deafheaven - At Work In The Fields of the Bomb

  • DIIV - ZIRP!

  • exciting!!excellent!! - exciting!!excellent!! (2025)

  • Fenne Lily - Win Win

  • Foot Ox - Topanga Canyon

  • Frontierer - Ultraviolet Parasite

  • Gollylagging - Real Life

  • Greg Freeman - All Set The Bone (Review)

  • Growing Pains - Daniel Loves Mandy Forever

  • Grumpy - Undefinable Ring

  • Haywire - I DON’T WANNA SAY GOODBYE

  • Holidays in United States - How To Count To Five

  • Holy Motors - Heaven’s Night

  • Hour - Ghost Bridge

  • How Strange It Is - THERE IS NO EVIL

  • If it Rains - All We’ve Got (Caroline’s Pick)

  • Insignia - Insignia

  • James Barrett - Now That I've Seen The Light

  • Jess Williamson - A Mile South of Heaven

  • Joan Kelsey - A Dog Called Memory

  • Lamplight - Lick the Spoon, Let it Soften

  • Leisure Hour - …that one day

  • Manor Gates - nobody knows you're here

  • Molly McGuire - Disaster In Reverse (Logan’s Pick)

  • more eaze - valley and structure (Review)

  • MX LONELY - PERFECT HOUSE (Review)

  • NØ MAN - Between the Sword and the Neck (Lillian’s Pick)

  • Pardoner - Target Practice

  • Penny Loafer - Fixer (Britta’s pick)

  • Pet Fox - Balance

  • Popfree - Overt (Elias’s Pick)

  • PISS - you made me / skin on linen

  • Pressure Wheel - I Hate The Night

  • Queen of Jeans - hard/SWEET

  • Rachel Chinouriri - I think I spoke too soon

  • Remi Wolf - Mud (Doyle’s Pick)

  • Ryan Hemsworth - Numbskull

  • Sadurn - The Underworld

  • Saoirse dream - grimdark

  • Scrape – S/T EP (Review)

  • Sean Solomon - The World Is Not Good Enough (Deluxe)

  • Sour Windows - Sigil

  • They Are Gutting a Body of Water - KOOL FAITH / LOOSIES II

  • Tommy Oeffling - Neighbors (Review)

  • Toner - Dynasty House

  • Total Wife - come.back.down.x.recovery

  • Wagging - Wagging

  • wakelee - Under Construction Forever (Review)

  • Ween - Boognish Provides (Live) 

  • Wishy - Nature’s Pill

  • 2nd Grade - Girls and Boys

Songs We Loved

  • American Sacred Music - “Fig on Wrist” (Review)

  • Avery Friedman - “You Move”

  • Ben Quad - “I Only Let You Down Now”

  • bugsy - “saying nothing”

  • Chastity - “So Alive I Cry”

  • Cloud Nothings - “Death Keeps Me Alive”

  • Cotillion - “gm” (Review)

  • Dad Bod - “underside”

  • Elephant Jake - “Tired Eyes”

  • Glazed - “Dipstick”

  • Hello Shark - “Country Club”

  • Howlin Rain, Ty Segall - “30th Century Man”

  • Knifeplay - “Love Song”

  • Lambchop, MJ Lenderman - “Weakened - (MJ Lenderman Version)”

  • mccloud - “shorts in october”

  • My Wonderful Boyfriend - “Chip City”

  • Newgrounds Death Rugby - “knife edge death match”

  • Nick Webber - "Amsterdam" 

  • Ogbert The Nerd - “Stapler”

  • Olivia Rodrigo, Chappell Roan - “expectations”

  • One Step Closer - “Blue Hour”

  • Oso Oso - “It’s All Bait”

  • Peel Dream Magazine - “Blind Faith”

  • Pet Fox - “Avoidant”

  • PISS - “Rote Zora. “Resistance is Possible.” Emma, no. 6, June 1984, pp. 39-41”

  • popfree - “Giving Up”

  • Prevention - “Bodies in Motion”

  • Prize Horse - “The Big Picture”

  • Record Setter - “Better Than Ever”

  • Slayyyter - “i think he’s got a girl”

  • Soul Glo - “Ppl Worried”

  • Spanish Love Songs - “Welcome to Hell”

  • Star Moles - “Born Again”

  • Teens in Trouble - “I Do” (Review)

  • Threshold - “Stillwater”

  • Toner - “Ride at Night”

  • Twisted Teens - “Stalks”

  • Vagabond - "Betraying a Memory”

  • @ - “I Know You Are (But What Am I Thinking)”