The Lead Sheet ~ 2/10/26

The Lead Sheet is your guide to this week’s new music - taking a look at newly released albums, who made them, and how listeners are responding.

Rapper J. Cole released his seventh and supposedly final album, The Fall Off, this week to immediate positive critique. The new project serves as the conceptual conclusion to his music career, which began with his debut The Come Up almost two decades ago in 2007. J. Cole, now forty-one, has likened this closure to an athlete retiring at their peak and going out strong, as he begins to focus more on his family and personal life. The Fall Off’s two discs, Disc 29 and Disc 39, span twenty-four tracks, and the numbers refer to Cole’s mindset at that respective age. Part one represents his youthful ambition and hunger, whereas part two demonstrates his maturity, clarity and growth. Several critics are calling The Fall Off a definitive masterpiece, showcasing Cole’s songwriting and lyrical prowess at their technical best, but consensus among fans is slightly more polarized, with some finding the album’s massive runtime of one hour and forty-one minutes staggering, making it hard to appreciate the album in one sitting. Stand out tracks include “SAFETY”, commended for Cole’s brutal honesty about family, and “Who TF IZ U”, an aggressive boom-bap clap-back to some of Cole’s sharper critics during periods of inactivity. 

Manchester based noise-rock group Mandy, Indiana’s sophomore album URGH is making  huge waves in the genre, earning a perfect score from both Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and sparking fervent discussion across music forums. Mandy, Indiana is known for their distinct combination of genres (noise-rock, techno, no wave, punk) as well as performing mainly in French, though URGH breaks this tradition with their first full English song, “I’ll Tell Her”- the album’s final track. URGH is a response to global political crises, and rages at injustice in both macro and micro environments. “Magazine” and “I’ll Tell Her”, both condemn the aggressive “bro” culture that has cropped up in recent years, and tracks like “Ist So Halt” and “Dodacahedron” confront the world’s complicit backsliding into authoritarian rule, with particular focus on the war in Gaza. Mandy, Indiana will kick off a European tour in March and April to support the new record. 

Indie rock band Ratboys sixth album, Singin’ to an Empty Chair released to excellent reviews, following their successful 2023 album The Window. The new work furthers the group’s venture into post-country and pop, exploring twangy textures, fiddles and slide guitars to shape the album’s sound. Ratboys frontwoman, Julia Steiner explains the title is a reference to a therapeutic exercise; therapists will have a client envision an important person in an empty chair, and give them the opportunity to say candidly what might otherwise be difficult had that person actually been present. Empty Chair is also the first album Steiner has released since beginning therapy herself. The album was written to an estranged loved one to process grief, and exhibit self-reflection. Critics praise the album’s more complex composition, refinement, and ability to push and pull emotions through tender, soft sections as well as crashing choruses. Ratboys have a North American tour set for February through April of 2026, spanning the U.S. from east to west coast. 

Joji is one of the best examples of having an extremely successful career, pivoting to a completely different career, and doing even better in that one. For the uninitiated, Joji, A.K.A George Kusunoki Miller, began as a YouTuber by the moniker “Filthy Frank”, producing edgy comedy content and establishing one of early YouTube’s most iconic and beloved characters “Pink Guy”. But as his viewers slowly began to outgrow that content, so did Joji- deciding to pivot into a serious career in R&B, in fact becoming the first Asian musician to have an album at #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop chart, following his debut project BALLADS 1. Joji’s first three albums, while also charting in the top five, were divisive; some felt Joji’s hype was only the result of his YouTube following artificially inflating public opinion of his musical work, while others posit that such a pivot could only have worked if the music was actually good. Joji’s newest studio album, Piss in the Wind, released on Friday to equally mixed reviews. Main critique seems to be that the album doesn’t attempt any playlistable singles, rather tracks are short and fragmented, more like ideas than real songs, leading to some finding a re-listen unappealing. At the same time, Piss in the Wind is also being called Joji’s most artistically authentic, cohesive project to date. Joji will launch his biggest tour yet, the “Can We Hang Out?” tour in North America in April, and a European leg in October of this year. 

After a thirteen year album hiatus, progressive metal band Karnivool returns this week with their fourth LP, In Verses. The new album explores topics like frustration, emotional release, and self-rediscovery. Fans of the group are thrilled with the new music, calling it “worth the wait” with some viewing it as Karnivool's best, or close-second-best only to their highly praised 2009 record Sound Awake. In Verses includes a remaster of the group’s 2021 single “All It Takes” as well as a few stand out tracks like the high-energy first song “Ghost”, “Remote Self Control”, which has some of the catchiest riffs in Karnivool discography, and “Salva”, the closing number which sees the group incorporate bagpipes for the first time. In Verses’ only sticking criticism is a middle section which seems to drag, though some appreciate the slow burning interlude. Karnivool is in their home country of Australia now for various In Verses launch parties and intimate, acoustic performances, with a European tour set for April and May of 2026. 

J.Cole - The Fall Off

Released Feb 6, 2026

Dreamville, Interscope, Cole World Records

Mandy, Indiana - URGH

Released Feb 6, 2026

Sacred Bones Records

Ratboys - Singin' To An Empty Chair

Released Feb 6, 2026

New West Records

Joji - Piss In The Wind

Released Feb 6, 2026

Palace Creek, Virgin Records

Karnivool - In Verses

Released Feb 6, 2026

Cymatic Records