FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
Essential September Releases
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SOME of these release dates might change…
as we are still in an uncertain period, but I was keen to document the best albums due next month. This year has been a great one for music, and there are some big albums out in September. Lana Del Rey is due to release an album next month but, as we do not have a title for it, I am unable to include it here. We shall have to see what comes of that however, on 4th September, Tricky releases Fall to Pieces. There are various editions of the album one can pre-order, and Fall to Pieces is going to be one of the year’s biggest releases. It is twenty-five years since Tricky released his debut, Maxinquaye, and the master has lost none of his touch. This is what we can expect from his upcoming album:
“Tricky releases his 14th studio album, Fall To Pieces, on his own label False Idols.
Fall To Pieces was recorded in Tricky’s Berlin studio in late 2019. Tricky is keen to point out that the tracks on the record can be deceptive; often short, ending abruptly and moving on to the next without warning. Although instrumentation varies from bursts of tense synths, distorted dial tones, and samples, the song’s lyrics can be dark and dense. Tricky’s music has always enlisted female vocalists to carry his ideas: the majority of tracks on Fall To Pieces, including Fall Please rely on Marta Złakowska, the singer he discovered during a european tour when he was left without a vocalist on the opening night. She saved the tour from disaster. “I can tell when someone is humble and down to earth,” says Tricky. “Marta doesn't care about being famous, she just wants to sing”.
There are a few other good releases due on 4th September but, in terms of the best of the best, I am looking ahead to 11th September. One of the most-anticipated albums of this year comes from Doves. The Universal Want is out on 11th September, and it is an album that you will want to pre-order. It has been eleven years since Kingdom of Rust was released, and there has been this huge sense of relief that the Cheshire band are back and putting new music out. Prisoners has been released as a single, and it has been gathering a lot of praise – it seems like Doves are still at the top of their game. The band’s bassist, Jimi Goodwin, told NME what we can expect from The Universal Want:
“As for the rest of ‘The Universal Want’, Goodwin assured fans: “I just know that we’ve made a really good Doves record that represents where we are and where we’ve been for the past 11 years.”
“It’s probably the most organically-made Doves record,” he told NME. “No one was second-guessing it. It was born out of chatting to each other over email. I was meant to be doing my next solo record and they were supposed to be doing a new Black Rivers album. We started pooling all our material and the material that we couldn’t work into shape on the last record ‘Kingdom Of Rust’”.
Changing pace entirely, and Marilyn Manson’s eleventh studio album, WE ARE CHAOS, is out on 11th September. Released through the Loma Vista Label, it is going to be an album you will want to own:
“Marilyn Manson returns with his eleventh studio album We Are Chaos via Loma Vista Recordings. Co-produced by Manson and Grammy Award winner Shooter Jennings [Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker], the ten-track opus was written, recorded, and finished before the global pandemic.
Manson’s painting, Infinite Darkness, which can be seen on the album cover, was specifically created to accompany the music. His fine art paintings continue to be shown all over the world, including gallery and museum exhibitions from Miami to Vienna to Moscow.
Manson says of the album, “When I listen to We Are Chaos now, it seems like just yesterday or as if the world repeated itself, as it always does, making the title track and the stories seem as if we wrote them today. This was recorded to its completion without anyone hearing it until it was finished. There is most definitely a side A and side B in the traditional sense. But just like an LP, it is a flat circle and it’s up to the listener to put the last piece of the puzzle into the picture of songs”.
September is a very big and busy month for albums, so I shall crack on and say that the next album that is very worthy of some money is The Flaming Lips’ American Head. It is the sixteenth album from the American band and, in terms of consistency, they have not dropped too many steps since their debut album back in 1986!
Make sure you pre-order now, as it is going to be another huge release. I am going to quote from Rough Trade, as I have done for a couple of albums already, and provide some details:
“American Legends The Flaming Lips release their 21st studio album, American Head via Bella Union. The album is comprised of thirteen new cinematic tracks, produced by longtime collaborator Dave Fridmann and The Lips. Among them, God and the Policeman featuring backing vocals from country superstar Kasey Musgraves. American Head takes on a welcome temporal shift that occupies a similar space to that of The Soft Bulletin or Yoshmi Battles the Pink Robots and just may be their most beautiful and consistent work to date”.
There are a few great albums due out on 25th September, but one album that I think is worth investment that arrives the week before is Sarah Davachi’s Cantus, Descant. I am fairly new to Davachi, but I have been listening to her music recently, and she is one of the most prolific artists out there. I think her music is incredible, and you will definitely want to investigate Cantus, Descant. This article from Pitchfork gives us some more details:
“Sarah Davachi has announce a new album called Cantus, Descant. It’s out September 18 via her new label Late Music (which is set up through Warp’s partner label division). Two songs feature her vocals on a record for the first time. Below, hear the new track “Stations II.”
Davachi discussed the new album in a statement:
I spent a lot of time while working on this album thinking about impermanence and endings, which led me to change my understanding of “vanitas” and “memento mori.” These concepts arise allegorically across classical antiquity and Buddhist thought, among many other sources, but they were most obsessively expressed during the Renaissance in still lives and miniatures that contrasted the simultaneous passing and stillness of time. My interpretation is completely secular, softer, and more benign, but the awareness of a moment’s feeling remains. There’s a lot of symbolist imagery in the work titles, references to place and nature; the “Stations” series in particular is a reconfiguring of the idea of states of being. The pervading affect on the album is one that gives reverence to the suspension, the epoché, a space where we welcome and attempt to reconcile impermanence. It is an opportunity to go inside—oneself, one’s sound—in order to simultaneously commune with our comforts and that which we mourn, perhaps not unlike the function of a hymn”.
Moving things forward to 25th September, and there are some cracking albums that I want to put out there. Deftones’ Ohms is another huge release this year. The legendary band released the title track from their album recently, and it got so much love and props. Even if you are not a big fan of Deftones, I would urge people to pre-order Ohms, as it is going to be one you will not want to miss!
If you want some more details and want to know what to expect, then I am bringing in some valuable information from Rough Trade:
“Grammy Award-winning, internationally lauded band Deftones release their feverishly anticipated album Ohms, via Warner Records. Recorded at Henson Studios and Trainwreck Studios, Ohms is an other-worldly body of work meticulously crafted by the 5 piece band. It is a magnificent tour de force and their first album in 4 years since the critically acclaimed Gore LP in 2016. The band, which includes Chino Moreno, Frank Delgado, Stephen Carpenter, Abe Cunningham, and Sergio Vega, has produced a dense LP with every member firing on all cylinders. The album also boasts a familiar collaborator in veteran producer and engineer Terry Date, who worked on 1995’s Adrenaline, 1997’s Around the Fur and 2000’s White Pony. All of the above assembles and sets the stage to deliver Ohms; 10 tracks of raw escapism and unparalleled grooves that have made Deftones' sound singular for over two decades”.
The chart battle is going to be a big one on the week beginning 25th September as, alongside Deftones, another big-hitting band release an album: IDLES’ Ultra Mono is their third, and it is already shaping up to be one of the best releases of 2020! The Bristol band have already shared a few tracks from Ultra Mono, including the simply superb Model Village. Go and check out the various album bundles, and I guarantee you will want to get yourself the record when it comes out on 25th September.
In an NME interview, frontman Joe Talbot talked more about Ultra Mono:
“Speaking to Apple Music, Talbot discussed the new album, how he’s been coping in quarantine and how Idles’ lack of success in their first decade as a band has changed them.
“The beautiful thing about us being ignored for 10 years is that there was no one telling us what we couldn’t do, we just had to learn it ourselves,” Talbot began. “And that meant that now I think ‘Ultra Mono’ is vigorously Idles. It’s fluent in Idles language because we’ve just been able to take baby steps every moment, make mistakes, and no one’s fucking at our gigs so we can make mistakes and come back stronger.
“Rather than like, ‘Ah that was a shit gig, no one’s going to come and watch us again because everyone in London that mattered came to that one that we were terrible at.’ Do you know what I mean?
“We just built it slowly over time,” he added. “It made us really appreciate selling 40 tickets. It made us really appreciate being able to write five decent songs in a row, because we took that time and we were given the breadth to make mistakes, and now we’re here.
“I think experience is fucking amazing but you also have to hold yourself accountable and work your ass off. It’s not an industry that carries people. They chew you up and they spit you out!”.
Not to be outdone, the always-brilliant Róisín Murphy releases her Róisín Machine album on 25th September. Following from 2016’s Take Her Up to Monto, Murphy’s fifth solo studio album is going to be a real gem! I have always loved Murphy’s work, and I think Róisín Machine is going to be one of her best albums to date. Running in at ten tracks, the songs are longer than a lot of her previous work, and the tracks she has released so far from the album are so immersive and stunning! This article from Pitchfork gives some more details:
“Róisín Murphy has announced a new album, Róisín Machine. The disco album, made in partnership with longtime collaborator DJ Parrot, is out September 25, via Skint/BMG. It features previously released singles including “Simulation” and “Murphy’s Law,” as well as new Amy Douglas–penned track “Something More”—listen to the extended mix of that below.
Of the single, Murphy said, “We’re in darker ages now and this feels like morning, the sun’s coming up and it’s the last record of a very, very, good night. We need space for ‘mood’ and the ‘uncanny’ right now.” She added, “Everything I do is from the gut. I’m always up to something, I’ve been directing videos and art-directing for years. The album is called Róisín Machine because I am a machine. I never stop.” (For those unfamiliar with Irish pronunciation: The title rhymes.)”.
Go and pre-order your copy of Róisín Machine, as it is an album that will give you plenty of energy and motivation at this challenging time!
There are three more albums that I want to suggest before wrapping things up. Sufjan Stevens puts out The Ascension on 25th September, and this is another great album that you will want to pre-order. It is the upcoming eighth studio album from the American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. If you are new to Sufjan Stevens, then here are some more details about The Ascension:
“The Ascension is the eighth studio album from singer, songwriter and composer Sufjan Stevens and is the long awaited follow-up to Stevens' Carrie abd Lowell. In the time between Carrie and Lowell and The Ascension, Stevens also released Oscar-nominated music for the Luca Guadagnino film Call Me By Your Name; a collaborative album entitled Planetarium with Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner (The National) and James Mcalister; The Decalogue, a solo piano work performed by Timo Andres; and scored several works for ballet: Reflections (Houston Ballet) and Principia (NYCB). The Ascension is musically expansive and sweeping in thematic scope”.
One more album that is worthy of some focus on 25th September is Sylvan Esso’s Free Love. The Electronic Pop duo prepare to put out their third album, and I have been a fan of theirs for a while now. You can go to Sylvan Esso’s website to pre-order Free Love, and I would definitely recommend people do that.
This article gives us a little bit more guidance regarding their upcoming album:
“Free Love will be released on September 25 through Loma Vista and is a follow-up to 2017’s What Now. In a statement, Sylvan Esso explained the inspiration behind the forthcoming LP.
“It’s a record about being increasingly terrified of the world around you and looking inward to remember all the times when loving other people seemed so easy, so that you can find your way back to that place,” the band said.
“At the heart of Sylvan Esso is this really fun argument,” Amelia Meath added. “Nick wants things to sound unsettling, but I want you to take your shirt off and dance. We’re trying to make pop songs that aren’t on the radio, because they’re too weird. It’s a pop band, but we’re talking about complicated emotions”.
The last album I would point people towards is Will Butler’s Generations. Butler is part of the Canadian band, Arcade Fire, and Generations promises to be another massive release for 2020. You can pre-order the album - and I am definitely going to check out Generations when it arrives. I am going to source from Rough Trade once more, as they have provided a lot of good insight regarding Generations:
“In the five years since Will Butler released his debut album, Policy, he’s toured the world both solo and as a member of Arcade Fire, released the Friday Night live album, recorded and released Arcade Fire’s international #1 album Everything Now, earned his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, hosted a series of touring town halls on local issues (police contracts, prison reform, municipal paid sick leave, voting rights), and spent time raising his three children.
He also found the time and inspiration to write and record a new album, Generations. “My first record, Policy, was a book of short stories,” Butler says. “Generations is more of a novel despairing, funny, a little bit epic… A big chunk of this record is asking: What’s my place in American history? What’s my place in America’s present? Both in general as a participant, as we all are, in the shit that’s going down but, also extremely particularly: me as Will Butler, rich person, white person, Mormon, Yankee, parent, musician of some sort, I guess. What do I do? What can I do? The record asks that question over and over, even if it’s not much for answers.”
While the songs on Generations contain their fair share of dread and regret, there is ultimately a lightness that shines through Butler’s music. That brightness is at its most intense when he and his solo band Miles Francis, Sara Dobbs, and Julie and Jenny Shore perform on stage. Their electricity is palpable throughout Generations, with the bulk of the new songs having been worked out live. Wild synth production gnarly bass synths with live drums and anthemic backing vocals as on first single Surrender are punctuated by intimate, direct moments: Butler’s voice cracking on Fine as he conjures his ancestors, and Promised, a meditation on friendship, how lives are built together, and how and why they drift apart.
Generations was recorded and produced by Butler in the basement of his home in Brooklyn. Tracking finished in March 2020, as New York closed down for the pandemic. Half the record was mixed in Montreal by longtime Arcade Fire engineer Mark Lawson, the other half by Brooklyn-based producer Shiftee (who is, incidentally, bandmate Julie Shore’s husband and Will’s brother-in-law). Generations opens a dialogue with the world. It posits answers and deals with those answers being refuted. Ultimately, it navigates the conversation as a way to find the truth… or at least a way forward”.
There are a lot of great albums due out next month and, whilst one cannot buy them all, I have suggested some above that I think are definitely worth some money. I will leave things here, but it is clear that artists are not slowing down when it comes to quality in 2020 – in spite of the fact that it has been a very difficult and strange year! September looks set to be a really good one for albums, so get involved and make sure you pre-order the fabulous albums that are coming our way. If anything, getting hold of so much brilliant music will lift the mood, motivate us and also provide…
IN THIS IMAGE: The cover for IDLES’ upcoming third album, Ultra Mono
SOME great distraction.