Every Friday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf and Lilliput Records co-owner Tanner Musgrove tell you about the new albums you can’t miss on a new episode of On Vinyl. Check out their top picks and a list of this week’s other releases, and listen to their full conversation using the player on this page or on the 88Nine airwaves at 1 p.m. every Friday.
This Friday, with open ears and record totes, we welcome the soon-to-be crop of new releases for the year.
While many artists are still deciding on official release dates and details, a handful have remained steadfast and handed us not only a solid release date, but a full plan. Here are a few in our direct line of vision that we’re looking forward to before the rest start popping up and crowding in on the periphery. It’s a short-and-sweet list, but there will be plenty more to come in 2026. We can’t wait to share them with you in the weeks and months ahead, so join us and discover new vinyl releases every Friday on 88Nine and here on the website.
Happy New Music Friday!
Most anticipated albums of 2026
Ratboys, Singin’ to an Empty Chair
When Julia Steiner was here for Ratboys’ Studio Milwaukee Session in November, she shared that this collection of songs is directed toward someone she’s been estranged from, and the album title is a therapy practice she learned where one pretends an empty chair holds the person they want to communicate with. The full record is devoted to that practice.
Singin’ to an Empty Chair truly revolves around catharsis, connection and healing. It’s also the band’s first record for new label home New West Records, and vinyl fans will be able to find it on a special double-LP version — white and pink splatter vinyl with a fourth-side etching on an autographed double gatefold — as well as on classic black at your local record shop.
BTW, if you missed the sneak preview of the album that they provided at our Studio Milwaukee Session in November, you can see Ratboys at Vivarium coming up March 14.
Crooked Fingers, Swet Deth
Singer and guitarist Eric Bachmann formed Crooked Fingers in 2000, soon after the demise of his much-loved indie-punk band Archers of Loaf. Swet Deth is the project’s first new album since 2011’s Breaks In the Armor, and lead single “Cold Waves” (released in late 2025) is everything fans will remember Crooked Fingers to be, with Bachmann’s craggy-yet-tender voice and heartfelt indie-spun poetry.
He shared that the album (and the band’s subsequent return) was inspired by a drawing from his kid that sparked the notion of the inevitability of death and all the sweetness that often leads up to it. Matt Berninger, Sharon Van Etten and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk will guest on the album, which arrives in record shops on basic black vinyl Feb. 27 via Merge Records.
Dry Cleaning, Secret Love
We actually don’t need to wait for English post-punk band Dry Cleaning’s third studio album, which dropped today to kick off the new year right.
Secret Love was produced by 88Nine fave Cate Le Bon, who makes Dry Cleaning’s sound pop in all the right places. The band has picked up steam ever since they came out the gates swinging with 2018 EP Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks, and they’ve showed no signs of slowing down.
Dry Cleaning have magnetized many with their post-punk, no-wave sound (the oddly compelling deadpan, spoken-word delivery of Florence Shaw has much to do with that). It’s possible you saw firsthand evidence of that when they packed Milwaukee’s Cactus Club for their show last fall.
Secret Love is available today on an indie exclusive apricot vinyl or standard black at any record store near you.
Charli XCX, Wuthering Heights
After releasing critically acclaimed album Brat in 2024, Charli XCX is back to tap into her love of films with this full companion album to the upcoming adaption of Wuthering Heights.
Lead single “House” features John Cale reciting a spoken-word poem over dark yet elegantly distorted instrumentation — the perfect taste of what’s to come for both the album and the film. It also seems this isn’t the only music we’ll be getting from Charli this year; it was just announced she’ll make more cinematic music with FKA Twigs and Jack Antonoff for the new Anne Hathaway film, Mother Mary.
In the meantime, Wuthering Heights is set to arrive Feb. 13 on galaxy-green-and-black vinyl, packaged with a lyric book enclosed in an envelope (fitting the film’s aesthetic).
