(Below you will find Daniel Barkasi’s latest monthly collection of reviews for NCS. This one includes enthusiastic recommendations for six albums released in July 2026.)

No, we’re not going to make a bunch of Vin Diesel references, and this month won’t be filled with so-called “dirty words” – though George Carlin is by far my favorite comedian of all-time, but a small milestone of this being the 30th edition of this column is a small thing that makes me smile a bit. It’s been fun sharing all kinds of music in these exalted halls, and we won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

The World Cup wrapped up, with good ole FIFA making an absolute ass of themselves – what else is new? It’s wild when the previous FIFA president (who was as corrupt as can be) looks trustworthy in comparison to the current one, and with the recent developments of trying to sell off stakes in the tournament to “investors” who have no interest in the game, the man who already had gone too far has managed to overstep even further.

However, despite the seediness of the organizing body, the football itself for the most part was edge-of-your-seat stuff. I enjoyed the games thoroughly, and congrats to Spain, who were unbreakable throughout the entire tournament and absolutely earned their victory. Cabo Verde’s unbelievable performance was also something that sticks out as special – seeing such a small nation push the eventual champions and runners-up Argentina to the edge was a great story. It would have been cool to have gone to a game, but there wasn’t a chance that we were going to plunk down over $1k per ticket. Hopefully the pricing out of a lot of people gets fixed one of these years, but we’re not counting on it. Continue reading »