The Best of September 2019 & Monthly Staff Playlist
Posted: by The Editor
THE BEST MUSIC OF SEPTEMBER 2019
House of Sugar, the most recent album from (Sandy) Alex G, finds the prolific songwriter burrowing deeper into his own brand of genre-bending indie rock that’s as hazy as it is saccharine. The album features everything there is to love about a new (Sandy) Alex G record—lo-fi guitar jams, toe-tapping alt-country, and boundary pushing bedroom-pop experimentation. Jail Socks just dropped their fantastic debut EP It’s Not Forever, if you’ve been looking for some good emo to sink your teeth into I highly suggest that you give it a spin.
After an incredible run of singles and features in 2019, Charlotte rapper DaBaby returned with his second release of the year, the excellent KIRK. DaBaby recruits some high-profile guests (Kevin Gates, Chance the Rapper, Nicki Minaj, Migos) but his distinct and charismatic voice steals the show once again. It’s been over four years since we last heard from Long Beard, and thankfully they’ve returned with their dreamy sophomore album Means to Me, a gorgeous collection of shimmering indie rock.
Atlanta rockers Microwave dropped Death is a Warm Blanket, the band’s heaviest albums to date, but fans of the band need not fear because they haven’t missed a step, sliding into their new sound with ease. All My Heroes Are Cornballs feels like it came completely out of left field, even for an artist that’s as hard to pinpoint as JPEGMAFIA, but the album is still as strange and infectious as anything else in the rap provocateur’s catalog.
If you’ve been following us for a while, you know that we were crazy for Greet Death’s debut Dixieland back in 2017. The band just announced their new album New Hell and dropped a new single from it called “Do You Feel Nothing” and I could not be any more excited for this album. Jupiter Styles, the moniker of songwriter Sean Neumann, announced a new album titled Ultra St. Opera, and the album’s first single “Haunted” is a rapturous earworm—it’s one of the catchiest songs I’ve heard all year.
Rosie Tucker dropped one of the year’s best albums back in March with Never Not Never Not Never, and their sensational new single “Ambrosia” would fit right at home on that record. “Digger”, the second single from Great Grandpa’s forthcoming album Four Of Arrows, is one of the year’s best indie-rock songs. Be prepared for when this album comes out this month, it’s one of the most wonderful things I’ve heard in a long time. No Vacation are gearing up to release a new EP, be sure to check out “Days” if you haven’t already, it’s blissful indie-pop vibes seem to exist in a world where summer never ends. Macseal are releasing a new album this November titled Super Enthusiast and the albums lead single “Graduating Steps” is further proof that this band just keeps getting better. “Friendly Face”, the new single from Blush Cameron (fka Comps) is a charming slice of lo-fi power pop, and luckily for us we don’t have to wait much longer to hear more bops like this because their new album Ambiguous World is out in less than two weeks.
Danny Brown has dabbled in all sorts of sounds and styles over the decade, but his new single “Dirty Laundry” (which was produced by Q-Tip) finds him going back to basics. His new album uknowhatimsayin¿ was executive-produced by Q-Tip and is out later this month, and if this single is indicative of what the rest of the album will be like, Danny Brown just might drop my favorite album of the year. New York MC Medhane dropped a pair of singles this month, but “Routine” is a must-listen, his warbled vocals slurring syllable after syllable together over a kaleidoscopic swirl of a beat.
See y’all next month.
THE PLAYLIST
Written by Michael Brooks // @nomichaelbrooks
Playlist curated by Steven Lalonde // @StevenLalonde
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