The May 2026 issue of Dork is available to order today (Friday 10th April), with Earl Sweatshirt & MIKE, Ruel and Eric Cantona leading three covers tied together by artists refusing to stay in the boxes they’ve been handed.
This month’s issue is full of movement, reinvention, freedom, creative risk and the strange, brilliant things that happen when people stop trying to behave themselves. It’s all about shedding skins, following instinct and making something sparkly and exciting out of the mess we lie in.
Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE land on the cover together with ‘POMPEII // UTILITY’, a double album built with SURF GANG that captures two of rap’s most distinctive voices working entirely on their own terms. It’s a record about purpose, destruction, community and art as something bigger than just commerce. Ruel, meanwhile, arrives with ‘Kicking & Screaming’, stepping beyond the “prodigy” label that’s followed him since his teens and into a brighter, bolder, more open version of himself, one fuelled by big feelings and unapologetic joy. Then there’s Eric Cantona: football icon, poet, provocateur and now one of the most unexpected (and brilliant) cover stars in Dork's ten years to date, bringing with him a Really Very Brilliant album, ‘Perfect Imperfection’, and the kind of grand, singular presence only the King of the Theatre of Dreams could deliver.
Elsewhere in the issue, Dry Cleaning continue to twist further out of shape on ‘Secret Love’, refusing easy definition at every turn, while Julia Cumming steps out from Sunflower Bean with a solo debut that tackles identity, autonomy and self-belief head-on. Slayyyter tears down the gloss on ‘WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA’, Gretel embraces spontaneity over perfectionism, and Haute & Freddy turn pop into a gloriously overblown fantasy with their debut album ‘Big Disgrace’.
There’s plenty more besides, too. The Itch channel generational dread into sweat-soaked dancefloor release, Getdown Services continue to blur humour, darkness and sharply observed human behaviour, and festival season gets going with some of the most exciting new artist incubators of the year this May.
Add in Hype favourites, verdicts on the latest releases, live reviews (Geese! Audrey Hobert! More!) and the usual stack of Dork nonsense, and May’s issue is a reminder that the most interesting artists are usually the ones willing to take the maddest route possible.
You can order a physical copy of the new issue of Dork here, and it’ll dispatch before our next issue announcement on 10th April 2026, or subscribe and get the print edition sent directly to your door every month here.
Dork+ members get early access, exclusive extras, occasional variant treats, and the warm satisfaction of keeping us over-caffeinated enough to make issues like this. You can join Dork+ right now - find more information here And don’t worry – if subscriptions aren’t for you, you’ll still get everything you did before, with digital versions of our print content unlocking for free throughout the month. Enjoy!
