Anyone who’s been with me since back in the 2010s will know I used to write weekly about new music. This was good because nothing escaped my notice. This was bad because nothing escaped my notice.

Virtually all of my free time was devoted to listening to dozens and dozens of albums (most of them not great) in order to find something to write about for the upcoming week. Upon returning from my long hiatus a couple of years ago, I abandoned the weekly roundup in favor of writing about more songs. On the plus side, it’s less stressful and I have more time to focus on other posts (or do other things entirely). On the minus side, things do escape my notice.

Let’s round ’em up:

Djo — The Crux Deluxe

So here’s what prompted my introduction above. For anyone who doesn’t know, Djo is the pseudonym of actor Joe Keery (whom you may or may not know as Steve Harrington in the series Stranger Things). Unbeknownst to me, Keery has been releasing albums as Djo since 2019 and one of his songs went millions-of-plays viral a few years ago. I cut myself a little (very little) slack for missing out on him since his first two albums were released during my extended break from this blog, but he released an album just last year called The Crux. Which I only discovered about three weeks ago.

And to top it off, it’s probably my favorite album of 2025.

See, Keery’s music isn’t just “good, for an actor” — it’s good, for anyone. Really good.

About two weeks ago, he released a new album called The Crux Deluxe. I don’t know if these are songs which didn’t stylistically fit on the previous album, or if they’re just leftovers, or if they’re brand new. There’s no information. What I do know is that Keery could have given the album its own unique title because it certainly stands on its own in terms of quality.

If you enjoy those two tracks I recommend going back and listening to The Crux first and then following it up with The Crux Deluxe.

Sabine McCalla — Don’t Call Me Baby

There’s always a danger with adopting a retro sound in that you can end up sounding too retro, too mired in another time, old-fashioned even. The talented ones manage to make everything fresh while still being true to their influences. Sabine McCalla works in a 50s/60s milieu, taking elements of pop, R&B, gospel, blues, and even cowboy songs, and blending them into something which sounds like the past without being beholden to it.