What We’re Listening To This Week: March 20, 2026
Story by:
Chris Guest
Each week, the Live Music Blog team takes stock of what’s been populating their playlists and getting endlessly stuck in their heads from the week that was. These can be new releases, obscure tracks in niche genres, or classic albums dusted off due to nostalgia (or because they’re simply awesome).
Enjoy what we’re listening to this week… and listen along with us if you so choose!
Lifeblood 20 – Manic Street Preachers (2024)
While not as revered as Manic Street Preachers’ 1996 masterpiece Everything Must Go, the group’s 2004 release Lifeblood celebrated its 20th anniversary a few years ago, and the group celebrated with a remastered and expanded version that delivered a modern sheen to the original album, as well as delivered a number of notable B-sides for fans and completionists.
It’s the B-sides here that will be most notable for devoted fans of the group, as it collects all of the era’s deep cuts all together, which compare quite favorably to tracks that made the album. Far more guitar-oriented than the album itself, these B-sides should be a delight for those interested in delving further into the group’s discography.
Top Tracks: “Empty Souls,” “To Repel Ghosts,” “A Song for Departure,” “Glasnost,” “Dying Breeds,” “All Alone Here,” “Everything Will Be”
Listen Next: This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Manic Street Preachers, Day & Age by The Killers, Skying by The Horrors, Hail to the Thief by Radiohead
Getz/Gilberto – Stan Getz & João Gilberto (1964)
A masterpiece of the bossa nova genre and an astounding achievement in samba/jazz fusion, this album was a mega hit upon release in 1964 and won critical and commercial success. It also holds up as an eminently listenable bossa nova jazz album that sounds just as warm and engaging as it surely did over 60 years ago.
While its most notable track, “The Girl From Ipanema,” spawned a million Muzak cover versions as music for elevators or hold music for phones, it is some of the other album tracks that serve as the album highlights, such as the ones below. However, “The Girl” remains an amazing achievement, and still sounds extremely cool even today.
Top Tracks: “Para Machucar Meu Coração,” “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars),” “Vivo Sonhando,” “The Girl from Ipanema”
Listen Next: Amoroso by João Gilberto, Stone Flower by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Bring Backs by Alfa Mist, Chet Baker Sings by Chet Baker
Shrunken Elvis – Shrunken Elvis (2025)
If you know me well, you know I am a sucker for the sound of a pedal steel guitar. Whether on classic country songs, instrumental Christmas albums, or ambient excursions (see: Slider – Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel Guitar by Bruce Kaphan), I simply can’t get enough of that “liquid guitar” sound that pedal steel delivers with aplomb.
As such, the “new wave” of modern ambient pedal steel thrills me, with collective Shrunken Elvis delivering an incredible synthesis of ambient pedal steel, krautrock’s hypnotic, droning grooves, and 1970s-era ECM jazz on a plethora of memorable instrumental tracks that simply cannot be listened to just once. Great music to put on while working, or for sitting back and enjoying a cold beverage or two after working.
Top Tracks: “An Old Outlet,” “That There’s a Strategy,” “Marina pt. 2,” “Sun Pillar,” “A Broken Cat”
Listen Next: Slider – Ambient Excursions for Pedal Steel Guitar by Bruce Kaphan, SUSS by SUSS, Pedal Steel Guitar by Will Van Horn
Cracker Island – Gorillaz (2023)
Following my review of Gorillaz’ newest album, The Mountain, I sauntered back into the group’s discography and explored their 2023 release, Cracker Island. After the rather disappointing Humanz in 2017, Damon Albarn went back to the drawing board and distilled what makes Gorillaz and interesting and successful group and retooled his methodology and the next album – 2018’s The Now Now, which sounded far more like the “classic” Gorillaz albums from the 2000s and early 2010s.
That trajectory continued with Cracker Island, which is arguably the group’s finest-ever achievement, with elevated songcraft, warm, inviting beats and instrumentation, amazing collaborative performances and anthemic melodies aplenty – such as on the propulsive title track (featuring astonishingly gifted bassist Thundercat) or the hypnotic “Oil,” which features rock legend Stevie Nicks, as well as highlight track “Silent Running,” which features one of Albarn’s best melody lines since Plastic Beach’s “On Melancholy Hill.”
Top Tracks: “Silent Running,” “Cracker Island,” “Controllah,” “New Gold,” “Tarantula,”
Listen Next: The Mountain by Gorillaz, Why Make Sense? by Hot Chip, I Wish My Brother George Was Here by Del The Funky Homosapien, The Magic Whip by Blur
Another Week Full of Great Music
What did you listen to this week? It’s never a bad time to revisit some of your favorite songs and albums, or branch out into something you thought you’d never listen to. If you’re in need of inspiration, explore our “What We’re Listening To” archives:
Header Photo Courtesy Wikimedia Commons/Drew de F Fawkes
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