September is so jam-packed with new album releases there won’t be time to do anything else.
Seeing your friends and family? Cancel on them. Going back to school? Postpone it. Big important work presentation? Get someone else to do it. Maintaining your personal hygiene? Forget it, you won’t be seeing another human being for a month, why bother.
You need to give your fullest attention to new music from Pixies, Angel Olsen, Warpaint, S U R V I V E, Bon Iver and 21 other brilliant artists this month, and things like socialising and bathing will just have to wait till October. If you still have friends and a job by then. Which you almost certainly won’t.
2nd September 2016:
Angel Olsen – My Woman
Angel Olsen returns with her third full-length album My Woman in September. Every track released so far has been a total smash, including the brilliant single ‘Shut Up Kiss Me’ which now soundtracks my own evenings of wearing a tinsel wig and roller-skating long past my bedtime.
Beach Baby – No Mind No Money
London four-piece Beach Baby release their debut album No Mind No Money in a few days. Imagine a less-shit Noah and the Whale who spend their days listening to Pet Sounds while being sad about girls, but not as sad as Noah and the Whale would be.
July Talk – Touch
After a four-year break, the Canadian bluesy alt-rock band release their second album Touch. The balance of Wiseau-alke Peter Dreimanis’s hair-metal vocals and Leah Fay’s mellifluous delivery sets them apart from their influences and that bass sounds marvellous.
Zomby – Ultra
UK producer Zomby returns to his old label – the home of music that confuses your dad – Hyperdub with his latest album Ultra. It’s… uh… challenging. Which is like watching a very long and repetitive art-house film where absolutely nothing happens but you feel terrified by it and then afterwards saying “that was… uh… interesting.” OH NO I AM MY DAD
9th September 2016:
Clipping – Splendor & Misery
Clipping are an experimental hip-hop trio from LA signed to Sub Pop and one of their number – MC Daveed Diggs – currently stars in the Broadway musical Hamilton. They are, in two words, fucking terrific. Although the single below is at the smoother end of their rap spectrum, other album tracks like ‘Baby Don’t Sleep’ are far more abrasive.
Doe – Some Things Last Longer Than You
Doe are a London-based trio who make tremendously satisfying punky indie-rock and their debut album Some Things Last Longer Than You is flipping great. Also they love Sleater-Kinney, Horror movies and hate sport. WE COULD BE BEST FRIENDS
Fresh Snow – ONE
Fresh Snow were nominated for a Polaris prize (like our Mercury prize but for Canada and much, much cooler) for their debut in 2013, and now the Toronto instrumentalists offer up their second album – the Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) produced ONE. It’s an incredibly wide-ranging follow-up, full of hooks, pulsating beats, genuinely danceable rhythms and a fuckton of noise. It’s a winner. (Full review here: Fresh Snow – One).
Local Natives – Sunlit Youth
Local Natives straddle the line between ‘so bittersweet and beautiful that it makes me scream-weep while I walk down the street’ and ‘meh, that’s a bit maudlin, I’ll listen to Junior Senior instead’ – but their new third album sounds like it’s going somewhere else entirely… THE 80S.
M.I.A. – A.I.M.
See what she did there. I bet M.I.A. couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of that album title sooner, but still thought she was dead clever when she did. Love her or think she’s a bit of a prat, M.I.A. is a fucking zen-master when it comes to a banging tune. Here’s another masterpiece, set to some slow motion explosions….
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – Skeleton Tree
There’s no way to avoid it, this is going to be a tough listen. Cathartic, hopefully. But tough. But hey, not nearly as tough as it was to record it, so the least we can do is give it a spin before we listen to Junior Senior again.
I’ve been told to stop going on about Junior Senior.
Nots – Cosmetic
Nots are here to fuck you up. Thank Christ, it’s about time someone put you in your place. Cosmetic is the Memphis four-piece’s second album and it sounds like the moment just after someone smashes your window with a brick and all the fresh air comes rushing in. They probably won’t pay for it either.
Psychic Twin – Strange Twin
Because apparently I won’t be happy until all music sounds like it came off the Drive soundtrack.
16th September 2016:
AlunaGeorge – I Remember
London’s finest electro-pop duo (that means more than it sounds btw – throw a handful of change in East London and you’ll hit at least 30 pairs of them) finally return after making the best pop album of 2013. It’s good to have them back. Now please stop throwing coins at strangers with nice haircuts in the street.
Kool Keith – Feature Magnetic
I guess if you’ve been given the name Keith, you’re allowed to call yourself Kool. it balances everything out. But only if you’re a rapper and you’re friends with MF Doom. The Keith who lives next door to us is isn’t allowed to call himself Kool Keith because he just works in a newsagent and his only friend is the guy who changes shifts with him at 6pm.
Mykki Blanco – Mykki
Performance artist, poet and rapper Mykki Blanco is back with an eponymous album, and its lead track ‘High School Never Ends’ is an enrapturing, multi-textured drama that sounds like the best thing TV on the Radio or Saul Williams never wrote and is probably the best thing you’ll hear in 2016.
patten – Ψ
The Warp-signed London duo release their third album proper in September and it’s only just harder to pronounce then their previous releases.
Phantogram – Three
The New York electro duo, who previously teamed up with Big Boi on the tremendous Big Grams EP, release their third album Three in a few weeks, and my word if the rest of the rest of the album sounds as good as ‘You Don’t Get Me High Anymore’ than it will… uh.. be… a very good album indeed. Crushed it. Right how many more of these have I got to go? NINE!!? Okay… I’ll put some more coffee on.
Preoccupations – Preoccupations
They used to be called Viet Cong, their name was offensive and the band were a bit crap. Now they’re called Preoccupations, their name is a bit crap and the band sound like they’ll fucking end you with a sack of hammers. A VAST IMPROVEMENT
23rd September 2016:
Flock Of Dimes – If You See Me, Say Yes
Flock of Dimes have been featured a few times in our best songs of the week round-up. The band is a project of Wye Oak’s Jenn Wassner and I’m going to rip-off writer Lee Bennett’s phrase here by calling it americana gone electronica – or ameritronica for short Thanks Lee, I owe you a bag of crisps.
Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam Batmanglij – I Had A Dream That You Were Mine
Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam are perhaps not as unlikely a musical pairing as Paul Banks and RZA, as it’s pretty easy to imagine The Walkmen and Vampire Weekend playing the exact same festivals to the exact same sweater-vest wearing crowds. However it’s still a lovely surprise to see them working together on new material – which thankfully isn’t just Rostam making a Hamilton solo album sound like fucking Paul Simon’s Graceland.
How to Dress Well – Care
How to Dress Well’s Care is essentially sad electronica to smack you in the face and tell you to buck up your ideas before your friends stop texting you because they’re bored of you moping.
Warpaint – Heads Up
This is just a heads up to tell you that Warpaint are back with a new song called New Song from the forthcoming album Heads Up also racecar is racecar backwards.
30th September 2016:
Bon Iver – 22, A Million
Whatever mind-fuckery Justin Vernon is playing at, I really like it and I’m totally on board. He’s basically gone a bit Kanye after listening to far too much cLOUDDEAD – a move that should always be applauded – and although it seems to be confusing some of the more purist fans, it’ll be fun to watch their heads explode in Autumn.
Jenny Hval – Blood Bitch
It’s 17 years since Jenny Hval was the lead singer of a Norwegian gothic metal band and this fact really has little to do with Hval’s subsequent solo career at the cutting edge of atmospheric, avant-garde pop – I just like trivia and had nowhere else to put it.
Pixies – Head Carrier
Remember a time when you could only dream of the Pixies getting back together and recording new material? In fact NO, you wouldn’t even DARE to dream such as a thing as it would just be too implausible. Now look where we are… two albums into their post-break-up career and we can hardly believe our luck. Plus the albums have been pretty great too, huh. Yeah? Anyone?
S U R V I V E – RR7349
The album you’ve been waiting all month to hear, RR7349 by S U R V I V E. The Texas electronic outfit featuring Kyle Dixon and Michael Steinwill – the composers of the Stranger Things soundtrack. Their second album RR7349 – a title that’s only a bit less annoying to type than their band name – contains similarly haunting John Carpenter atmospherics and groovy synths, and will surely soundtrack your next Halloween party. Can I come? I may have to bring a baby with me, but that’s okay I have a costume picked out already – THE BABYDOOK!
That’s it. See you in October you unwashed, friendless maniac.
