FEATURE:
One for the Record Collection!
IN THIS PHOTO: Cardi B’s second studio album, Am I the Drama?, comes out on 19th September
Essential September Releases
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NEXT month is hugely busy…
IN THIS PHOTO: Sophie Ellis-Bextor releases her new album, Perimenopop, on 12th September/PHOTO CREDIT: Bekky Calver
for new albums. Some of the biggest of the year are due out. I shall try and include as many as I can but, if you want an idea of what else is out, then check out this website. I am going to take four from 5th September. Some real gems to kick us off! Let’s start out with Big Thief’s Double Indemnity. A band I really like, their new album looks really interesting. I particularly love the cover. You can pre-order the album here:
“Big Thief release their sixth studio album, Double Infinity, on 4AD. Double Infinity is the follow-up to 2022’s Grammy-nominated album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, recorded last winter at the Power Station, New York City.
For three solid weeks, the trio would ride bicycles on frozen streets between Brooklyn and Manhattan, meeting in Power's Station's warm wood-panelled room. Together with a community of musicians (Alena Spanger, Caleb Michel, Hannah Cohen, Jon Nellen, Joshua Crumbly, June McDoom, Laraaji, Mikel Patrick Avery, Mikey Buishas), they would play for nine hours a day, tracking together – simultaneously – improvising arrangements and making collective discoveries.
Double Infinity was produced, engineered, and mixed by longtime Big Thief collaborator Dom Monks. “How can beauty that is living be anything but true?” Adrianne asks as she drives nose against the future with childhood mementos on ‘Incomprehensible’. She understands, “everything I see from now on will be something new.” The silver hairs on her shoulders are new as well. Yet fear of aging is cracked by proof. If a life is shaped by living, “Let gravity be my sculptor, let the wind do my hair.” Being born, then staying a while, remains the greatest mystery. Adrianne claims her place and time. “Incomprehensible, let me be”.
Also out on 5th September is David Byrne’s new album, Who’s the Sky? This is one that you will definitely want to pre-order. It is going to be a typically brilliant work from the Talking Heads lead. Based on what has been released from Who’s the Sky? so far, it seems the album will sit alongside the very best from this year. A David Byrne work of brilliance I am looking forward to hearing more from:
“Byrne was inspired to enlist Ghost Train Orchestra for the album after hearing their 2023 tribute album to the blind New York composer and street poet Moondog, and later that year jumped on stage with the group during a Brooklyn performance. Enticed by the 15-member Ghost Train’s varied instrumental lineup – which includes drums, percussion, guitar and bass along with strings, winds and brass – he thought to himself, “what if that’s what these new songs of mine sounded like?”
Byrne asked if they’d want to serve as his band for the Who Is the Sky? sessions, and they quickly agreed. Mixed by Mark “Spike” Stent and mastered by Emily Lazar, the finished product is about both hiding and revealing, or as Byrne puts it, “a chance to be the mythical creature we all harbor inside. A chance to step into another reality. A chance to transcend and escape from the prison of our ‘selves.’”
These concepts are heavily incorporated in the Who Is The Sky? album package, which was designed by Shira Inbar and finds Byrne nearly obscured by radiating, colored patterns and psychedelic, spiky outfits designed by Belgian artist Tom Van Der Borght.
“At my age, at least for me, there's a ‘don't give a shit about what people think’ attitude that kicks in,” Byrne says. “I can step outside my comfort zone with the knowledge that I kind of know who I am by now and sort of know what I'm doing. That said, every new set of songs, every song even, is a new adventure. There's always a bit of, ‘how do I work this?’ I've found that not every collaboration works, but often when they do, it's because I'm able to clearly impart what it is I'm trying to do. They hopefully get that, and as a result, we're now joined together heading to the same unknown place”.
Two more albums to cover from 5th September. The first is the final album from Saint Etienne. International is going to be this bittersweet album. It is a new release from a band who always produce the very best music. However, it is the last album that we will get from them. A bit of an emotional realisation. You can pre-order International here. Because it is such an important album, you will want to add this to your collection:
“After Saint Etienne's 35-year excursion through pop, International is their final album-length statement. A dreamlike drift with friends and collaborators, International features cameos from the higher echelons of pop — 80s chart heroes, electro, acid house and all points in-between — from Vince Clarke to Nick Heyward, Confidence Man to Erol Alkan, Chemical Brothers, Orbital, Doves and Xenomania, through to the lesser known, but equally exhilarating Augustin Bousfield and Flash Cassette.
Saint Etienne are the 90s band who never left us, never imploded, and never adhered to clichéd excess. They are a testament to getting along, getting on with creating something new and, of course, getting away with it. RT LP and RT CD with bonus four track remix CD featuring International Spanish Song, "Almost (Electro Mix)", "Walk Away From her Things", and "Break Down".
Before moving on to releases from 12th September, there is one more from 5th September. Suede’s Antidepressants is another huge album that you will want to grab a copy of. Go and pre-order it here. I want to come to an interview from MOJO, where the band defocussed the upcoming album. Lead Brett Anderson and guitarist Richard Oakes are mentioned or featured in this part of the interview:
“Although ten years his future bandmates’ junior, Oakes was imbibing the music that Antidepressants draws upon – the bands Anderson and Oakes were out downing snakebite to – via his older sister’s record collection.
“My teenage influences – Keith Levene, John McGeoch, The Fall, Wire – didn’t really have a place in the writing in the early years. And I had to wait,” says the guitarist of initially having to fit into the Bowie-meet-Ballard blueprint laid out by Anderson and Butler. “When we did Autofiction, suddenly I felt it did have a place. The frame of mind when we started writing Autofiction was, Let’s try and play to our strengths, be a band in a room again. One of the most prominent features of the band is the guitars. That’s why my presence is a lot more obvious than it was. It certainly wasn’t me elbowing my way to the front – because I’m just not that guy.”
Songs on Antidepressants include Disintegrate, Sweet Kid, the Bowie-in-Berlin inspired Dancing With The Europeans, and the fractious Broken Music For Broken People, which was also the album’s working title.
“Thematically, it’s a lot different from Autofiction. More paranoid and neurotic,” says Anderson of his lyrics on Antidepressants. “This sense of being a citizen in a benign yet oppressive world. But also I like the joy in defying that control. Broken Music For Broken People is a the-weak-shall-inherit-the-earth song – a song of defiance.”
While Antidepressants finds the band in an alienated, post-punk hinterland, Suede’s tenth album could have landed them in a very different place indeed. In the Covid-initiated hiatus between Autofiction’s recording and its release, Suede wrote what they thought would be its follow-up – a ballet soundtrack, the polar opposite to the record they’d just finished. Such was the glowing response to Autofiction, however, that the project was binned. Yet, two of its grandiose mood pieces – Somewhere Between An Atom And A Star and Life Is Endless, Life Is A Moment – were repurposed as endpieces for each half of Antidepressants.
“I always feel like we can stretch Suede and get arty and do unusual things,” says Anderson, “but it always snaps back to being a rock band”.
Let’s move to a few albums from 12th September. Four from this week to cover off. Pleasingly, the first one is from Adam Buxton! The comic and podcaster releases his debut album, Buckle Up. Go and pre-order it here. Whilst many might be expecting a comedy album, they are songs that are sincere and emotional - though there is also humour too. Influences including LCD Soundsystem and Talking Heads. It sounds like a fascinating and effective combination:
“British Writer, comedian and podcast host Adam Buxton releases his debut music album Buckle Up on Decca Records. The album sees Buxton collaborating with Metronomy’s Joe Mount (as lead producer) and The Vaccines’ Pete Robertson.
When Decca approached Buxton to make his first solo album, five years ago, the label didn’t realise they were dealing with a “master of self-deluded overcomplication”. He told them he wanted “Berlin-period Bowie and Eno going for lunch with Radiohead and Nina Simone at Brian Wilson’s beach brasserie.” He told them he wanted a Bulgarian choir, too. Then he enlisted Metronomy’s Joe Mount as producer: “I hoped it would be a Metronomy record with my voice!” None of these plans materialised.
Instead came Buckle Up, fifteen songs in which Buxton is inescapably, and beautifully, himself. “You inhabit the uncanny valley between funny and sincere,” advised Greenwood, “and I’m not sure anyone’s ever made that work.” Buxton has come to accept that the uneasy balance between funny and sincere might be what he does best. “That encapsulates everything I’ve ever done,” he admits. “Efforts to be thoughtful undermined by silliness, and vice versa”.
One of my favourite artists around is Baxter Dury. I am looking forwards to the release of Allbarone on 12th September. You can pre-order the album here. Even though I am not overly-keen on many of the album covers from September-due releases – including Baxter Dury’s album -, the music within this particular album is going to be world-class. He always delivers stunning music with witty and compelling lyrics:
“Baxter Dury releases his tenth studio album Allbarone via Heavenly Recordings. The album was produced by Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence and The Machine), his first album he’s worked on in over five years.
It was Sunday, June 28th, 2024, and Baxter had just stopped from a rapturously received set on The Park Stage at Glastonbury festival. After towelling himself down, a familiar figure approached him backstage. It was Paul Epworth, the lauded producer/songwriter whose creations have draped themselves across the airwaves of the 21st Century more successfully than others.
They agreed to meet back in Epworth’s North London Church Studios in late November, not long after Baxter had finished touring his last album. Their first day in the studio working on this new eighth solo Baxter Dury album was an eye-opener for Baxter, though, and not just because of the comfortable surroundings of The Church, which has hosted the likes of Frank Ocean and Adele.
Together they dreamt up Allbarone's nine-track tour-de-force, stripping everything away and building Baxter’s most melodically direct, futuristic collection in intense three-hour daily shifts throughout December and January. "It’s kind of a character arc that goes through the whole thing, two personalities," he explains. "It’s very critical of people, this album, whoever they are, maybe some bloke with a moustache and sockless loafers in Shoreditch or a fat old Chiswick gangster lording it up in a really comfortable middle-class part of London."
"I don’t want to say it’s contemporary," he summarizes. "Because I sound like a **** using that word. But it does sound really contemporary. It doesn’t sound like a Harrods hamper band made it. It doesn’t sound like a band made it all. Which is what I wanted most of all. It’s just something that’s brand new for me. It’s quite exciting, really." Which in Baxter Dury-speak is as good as proclaiming "I’m top of the world!”.
Two more albums from 12th September before moving on to a packed 19th and 26th September! The first of two is King Princess’s Girl Violence. This might be an artist you have not come across yet. I would definitely recommend that you check out her music. She is a stunning talent whose latest album, Hold On Baby, was released in 2022. This New York City-born artist should be on your radar. You can pre-order Girl Violence here:
“Girl Violence is the third album from New York artist King Princess (Mikaela Straus), marking her most personal and unapologetic work to date. Written after walking away from a long-term relationship, a major label deal, and a city that dulled her spark, the album captures the chaos, clarity, and catharsis of starting over.
Across bold pop anthems and intimate confessionals, Straus explores the nuanced, messy and magnetic dynamics of loving women. The result is a record that’s emotionally feral, sonically fearless, and deeply self-assured.
Since her breakout with “1950” - a Platinum-certified anthem with over a billion streams - King Princess has carved out a singular space in modern pop. On Girl Violence, she turns the page, taking full creative control and delivering her most striking and uncompromising vision yet”.
Let’s round off albums from 12th September with Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Perimenopop. This legendary artist has been on the scene for almost a quarter of a century. Not to freak her out, but I remember when she featured on Spiller’s Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love) back in 2000. That single turns twenty-five on 14th August. I will mark that with a separate feature. You can order Perimenopop here. Ellis-Bextor has a string of tour dates ahead. In fact, May and June were pretty packed. Before some dates in September and October, she has a bit of a rest. Here is some more information about her upcoming album:
“The new record follows 2023’s ‘HANA’ and features previously released tracks ‘Freedom of the Night’, ‘Relentless Love’ and ‘Vertigo’.
“With ‘Taste’, I collaborated with MNEK and Jon Shave to write a playful, flirtatious pop song about chemistry,” Ellis-Bextor explains. “What can really make you want to be around someone is when their taste, what they like in life, is something you become addicted to. You want to experience all delights with them and share it with them as everything they introduce you to feels just right. All your senses feel alive and awake – like the full flavour of life is realised. Chef’s kiss”.
19th September is a seriously busy week for new albums! Though I cannot feature them all, there are four that I want to shine a light on. I am kicking off with Cardi B’s Am I the Drama? Perhaps one of this year’s most anticipated albums, I am going to move to an article from Variety around the announcement of her second studio album. Go and pre-order Am I the Drama? here:
“More than seven years after the release of her Grammy-winning debut album “Invasion of Your Privacy,” Cardi B has announced that the follow-up is finally coming.
The rapper revealed that her sophomore album “Am I the Drama?” is slated for release on September 19. She announced the record on social media, along with the album cover, which shows her posing against a flock of crows.
Cardi was typically unsubtle about signaling that the album was finally on the way. In an Instagram post on Sunday, she said in a voiceover as glamorous images of herself surrounded by (fake) crows rolled by: “Seven years and the time has come. Seven years of love, life and loss. Seven years I gave them grace, but now, I give them hell. I learned power is not given, it’s taken. I’m shedding feathers and no more tears. I’m not back, I’m beyond. I’m not your villain, I’m your tyrant. The time is here. The time is now.” She recently told her followers that she had delivered the album to her label, Atlantic.
Last week, Cardi premiered the new track “Outside,” during a performance at Cannes Lions. The song officially released last Friday, includes a dig at her ex-husband Offset and name-drops her new squeeze, New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs.
Cardi opened her performance in Cannes with “Bongos,” a song she shares with Megan Thee Stallion, and also delivered “Bodak Yellow,” “I Like It,” “Money,” “Up,” and her and Megan’s smash hit from 2020, “WAP.”
Cardi’s second album has been anticipated for many years — there was even speculation around the time of “WAP,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100. But although she has dropped more than a dozen singles and guest appearances, including spots with Lizzo, Bruno Mars, Shakira, Anitta, Kanye West, Ed Sheeran, Lil Yachty, Glorilla and more”.
I would recommend that people pre-order Kojey Radical’s Don't Look Down. The London-born artist released his debut album, Reason to Smile, in 2022. I am excited to see what Kojey Radical has in store for the follow-up. You can pre-order your copy of Don’t Look Down here. He is a major talent indeed:
“Over the past decade, East London artist Kojey Radical has cemented himself as one of the most creative and unique voices in British music. His debut album Reason to Smile (2022) was released to critical acclaim, and saw him emerge as one of the defining voices in UK culture.
Now, the 32-year-old he releases his second album Don’t Look Down. “I wanted to make this album more personal and more honest,” he says, “we have to be able to accept that the messenger has flaws and all.
16-tracks long, Don’t Look Down is a musically rich and deeply introspective reflection on the shifting tides, lows, and joys that have passed through his life since his emergence into the public eye. Sonically, the album provides the most experimental and eclectic music of his career, with influences ranging from golden age Hip Hop to disco, grime to Indie, Jazz to Ska.
Together, these strings combine to give a pertinent insight into Kojey’s inner world, and a timestamp documenting the feelings, emotions, and experiences that arise when many reach the milestone of their 30s”.
Two more albums from 19th September to get to before diving into the hectic 26th September! One of this country’s finest young artists, Lola Young’s I’m Only F**king Myself is an album that you will want to pre-order. You can do so here. I have selected The Basic Bitch Edition rather than The Punching Bag Edition, as I think the album cover is funnier and more appropriate given the title:
“The return of Lola Young with this year's massive POP album. Standard LP: Pressed on 140g nude pink vinyl, this edition comes with a 12x12 insert and includes the hit single ‘One Thing’. It’s sweet, subtle, and a little sarcastic, perfect for those days when you need to scream into the void and still look cute doing it. Call it “basic,” call it iconic, either way, it’s yours to define.
This is for anyone who’s ever rolled their eyes and then turned the volume up. Who even decides what’s basic, anyway? Exactly. CD: Packaged in a sleek digipack, this CD includes the hit single ‘One Thing’ and feels like the emotional glue holding everything in place. It’s for the ones still burning CDs in their cars and holding on to something physical in a world that won’t stop glitching.
Easy to play, hard to ignore. Whether you’re spiraling in your bedroom or cruising at midnight, this is the version that stays with you. Indies LP: Exclusively available at indie stores, this 140g marbled vinyl comes in a matte-finish sleeve with a 12x12 insert. Featuring the hit single ‘One Thing’, this edition doesn’t pull punches, it wears the bruises proudly.
It’s for the emotionally weathered, the quietly strong, and anyone who’s ever had to laugh through the pain. Emotional baggage isn’t included, but if you know, you know. Raw, rare, and real, this one’s just for you”.
The final 19th September-due album you need to look out for is from the Irish band, NewDad. Altar is going to be an extraordinary album you will want to grab a copy of. You can pre-order it here. This is a band I am really excited about. They are going from strength to strength. Their high-profile fans including Robert Smith of The Cure:
“NewDad, fronted by enigmatic songwriter and vocalist Julie Dawson, are an alternative three-piece from Galway, Ireland. Their influences vary from legendary bands like The Cure, Pixies, R.E.M., and My Bloody Valentine, to more contemporary acts, such as Big Thief and Beabadoobee.
NewDad make music that confronts the horrors of the modern world. Julie's lyrics find beauty in her pain, with a unique perspective on her generational despair that resonates broadly. With writing that regularly evokes imagery of water and religion, she reflects on the band’s upbringing on the West Coast of Ireland through her songwriting.
Altar is the second album from Ireland’s next great guitar band, and the third album from their prolific frontwoman Julie Dawson in less than 2 years. It’s a grungey alt-rock future classic that jolts between anger-fueled anthemics on the one hand, and darkly intimate and melancholic introspection on the other. They’ve built a dedicated cult following with their acclaimed debut Madra and if they’re good enough for the godfather of goth they’re good enough for you…
“I liked the NewDad album, that’s been on in my car for a long time” (Robert Smith)”.
There are eight albums from 26th September I need to cover off, so let’s get down to it! I will start with Cate Le Bon’s Michelangelo Dying. She is someone I always have time for. I love her music. You can pre-order the album here. If you need some details about her new release prior to making a decision, then this is what Rough Trade say about an album I feel will slot alongside the best-reviewed of this year when we look back in five months or so:
“Its creation led by pure emotion, Cate Le Bon’s seventh record Michelangelo Dying usurped the album she thought she was making. The product of all-consuming heartache, her feelings overrode her reluctance to write an album about love, and in the process became a kind of exorcism.
What emerges is a wonderfully iridescent attempt to photograph a wound before it closes up — but which in doing so, picks at it too. Musically, there is a continuation and expansion of a sound — a machine with a heart — that has taken shape over her last two records (2019’s Reward and 2022’s Pompeii) as Le Bon has increasingly taken control of the playing and producing herself.
As guitars and saxophones are pushed through pedals and percussion and voices are fed through filters, an iridescent, green and silky sound emerges, with flashes of the artistic singularities of David Bowie, Nico, John McGeoch and Laurie Anderson surfacing and disappearing below the waterline throughout.
What we’re left with is an ever-changing, continuous entity, a kind of song cycle. Each iteration reflects and progresses the last, “each one a shard of the same broken mirror” — shifting, glinting, concealing and revealing, depending on how it is turned in the light.
There are ultimately, Cate asserts, “No revelations. No conclusions. There is no reason. There is repetition and chaos. I eventually allowed myself a vacant mind to experience it without resistance and without searching for a revelation or order to any of it.”
An exercise in the viscerality of life, of love, of humanity for both listener and artist, Michelangelo Dying knows what it is to hold, to be held, and to be exquisitely, profoundly alone. “The characters are interchangeable” concludes Cate, “but at the end of it all, it’s me meeting myself”.
Number two of eight is Coach Party’s Caramel. A band I championed years ago and have since played huge stages and supported Queens of the Stone Age, the Isle of Wight group are bound for huge things. I am really looking forward to Caramel. You can pre-order it here:
“Coach Party return with 2nd album Caramel. It is a melody-packed, infectious record born from the shared experiences and unity of the band's four members: Jess Eastwood, Steph Norris, Guy Page, and Joe Perry.
Produced by the band's own Guy Page, Caramel channels the introspection and bite of bands like Hole, Sprints, Turnstile, and Amyl and the Sniffers. Clocking in at 33 minutes, it's a sharp, melody-driven record that expands on the themes of their 2023 debut Killjoy — heartbreak, identity, and finding your voice.
The band has built a reputation for intense, sweat-soaked live shows, touring with the likes of Queens of the Stone Age, Wet Leg, and Royal Blood, and making festival appearances at Glastonbury and Rock en Seine. With Caramel, they push their sound further than ever—hook-heavy, emotionally honest, and made for the big stage”.
Joy Crookes’s Juniper is an album that is going to be in my collection! Following 2021’s Skin, Juniper is going to be another phenomenal release from the Lambeth-born artist. You can pre-order Juniper here. I am a fan of Crookes and am really looking ahead to 26th September and this album. Here is some information about what we can expect:
“A stunningly candid and fearless body of work, the album reaffirms Joy as one of the UK’s most vital and original voices. A once-in-a-generation talent, Crookes delivers a record that is both emotionally raw and sonically rich; humorous, heartbreaking, and profoundly human.
Following the success of her 2021 debut Skin, which earned BRIT and Mercury Prize nominations, went Top 5 in the UK charts, and drew acclaim from The Guardian, NME, and many more, Joy set out to make an album that pushed her further both musically and personally. Juniper is the result: a project defined by its depth and dynamism.
Written with a stripped-back approach and produced by long-time collaborators including Blue May (Kano, Jorja Smith), Tev’n (Stormzy), and Harvey Grant (Arlo Parks), Juniper features standout guest appearances from Vince Staples on the incendiary ‘Pass The Salt’ and Kano on the bittersweet confessional ‘Mathematics’.
Crookes describes the record as “more nuanced” than Skin: “With Juniper, every situation is visceral and I’m very much in it. It’s me in the centre of it all.” The title itself nods to resilience (an evergreen that thrives in harsh conditions) and the album dives deep into themes of body politics, mental health, queer love, anxiety, industry hypocrisy, and the ecstasy (and terror) of falling in love.
Lead singles like ‘Pass The Salt’ and ‘I Know You’d Kill’ showcase Joy’s lyrical agility – blending poetic detail with razor-sharp wit. Meanwhile, the euro-pop inspired ‘First Last Dance’ channels euphoric melodies to mask deep emotional struggle, and the cinematic ‘Perfect Crime’ sees Joy fully self-actualize in the style of a Western showdown.
On ‘Paris’, the closing track, Joy reflects on a formative queer relationship: “Something I feared so much finally, actually felt like love.” It’s a sentiment echoed across Juniper – a record that captures the beauty and brutality of emotional openness.
The album arrives after a period of personal upheaval for Crookes, including a mental health crisis that shadowed the album’s creation. “I was in the trenches,” she says. “But the studio became my solace. What you hear is live and direct from that time.” Despite the darkness, Juniper radiates warmth, levity, and life, powered by Joy’s ever-restless creativity and artistic excellence”.
I might include one or two more albums that I mentioned for this week as I have noticed some I overlooked. Mariah Carey’s Here for It All is the next one on the list. The sixteenth studio album from the music icon, here is where you can pre-order it. This People article from last month provides some more information about an album that is hotly anticipated:
“Are you ready for more new Mariah Carey music?
In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden on Monday, June 30 in Los Angeles to celebrate 10 years of the streaming service, the Songbird Supreme teased her upcoming sixteenth studio album.
Carey, 56, revealed the project will feature details about her life, which includes her 14-year-old twins Monroe and Moroccan. "Definitely when the album is released, there’s a lot of who I am today, and the last 10 years, the last 14 years [in it]," she said. "It’s an interesting situation when you have kids, and it’s a whole ‘nother paint job. It’s a whole different thing."
While the "Fantasy" vocalist admittedly didn't want "to tell too much about the new album," she further teased the body of work with a lyric — "It's a special occasion / Mimi's emancipation" — from her hit 2005 The Emancipation of Mimi single "It's Like That."
"What is next? The album coming out. I don’t wanna tell too much about it because I just don’t want to reveal the whole thing," said Carey, before revealing: "It’s finished."
She detailed the project will have either "11 songs, or 12" and hinted at its contents: "We got some Mariah ballads."
Last month, Carey kicked off her new era with the single "Type Dangerous," which she then performed at the 2025 BET Awards — where she was honored with the BET Ultimate Icon Award. The song debuted at No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Before fans get the full new album, she told Apple Music, "A second single is coming soon."
"I’m very excited about it," Carey said. "It’s very summer-y. I like the beat as well."
The new album will mark her first since 2018's Caution, which featured songs like "GTFO," "With You" and "A No No."
While accepting the BET Ultimate Icon Award on stage last month, Carey reflected in her speech, "My life and career have been quite the adventure. I will spare you the long, drawn-out saga tonight. It's all in my book [The Meaning of Mariah Carey] anyway."
"It took me a while, but I finally realized life is far too short to live for anyone else's approval, which is something I always did," she said. "So I decided to own who I am. My extraness, my fabulousness, my and yes, my success and my iconicness."
Carey continued, "I'm so grateful for you all to celebrate it with me tonight. Thank you so much. I just want to encourage everyone out there to believe in yourself. Love and respect yourself. Be a diva, be a boss, be anything you wanna be. But be iconic while you're doing it”.
Patrick Watson’s Uh Oh is out on 26th September. You can pre-order it here. It sounds like it is going to be a really interesting album. There are some details provided by Rough Trade that give you some insight and illumination:
“What is life but an endless series of “uh oh”s? From our earliest childhood accidents to our most overwhelming adult anxieties, it’s a little phrase that looms large throughout our existence. Just ask Montreal indie-pop maestro Patrick Watson who was recently faced with the biggest “uh oh” a professional singer could endure.
One morning in the winter of 2023, Patrick woke up to discover that his voice—the angelic instrument that propelled 2006’s carnivalesque art-rock opus Close to Paradise to the Polaris Music Prize winner’s podium —had gone completely kaputt.
“Obviously, I like singing for people, but I was really enjoying my Modular [synth] and diving into instrumental music”—a natural inclination for Patrick, who’s composed over 15 film scores to date. “But then I was like, ‘Oh, it’d be cool to write songs for all these different singers that I really want to hear sing—I’ll find my way out of this situation that way.’ Because my voice wasn’t supposed to come back. And when it did, I just thought having all these other singers was still a cooler idea for a record than me singing.”
I am not going to drop any details in, but Robert Plant’s Saving Grace is out on 26th September. You can pre-order it here. Three more albums to go. I shall move on to Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving. That is out on 26th September. You can pre-order it here. Even though there is not a lot of information available about The Art of Loving, this interview from last year does mention it:
“Speaking of fashion, I'm thinking of Glastonbury, your style, your stage outfit with Chapova Lowena. It was such a moment. If you could collaborate with another brand for a look, do you have a brand in mind or a moment?
Yeah, good question. I mean, that look was just so perfect, and one of my favourite things I've ever been able to wear. I really like the idea of working with British designers. I think that's really fun. I really like Wales Bonner and Martine Rose. But is there anything coming up? I don't know, maybe, like a big show in the States or something, a show in LA or something would be fab to do something quite extravagant you know, but we'll see.
You also have impeccable taste outside styling, with music. I see your Spotify playlist, Sweet Things that you post on your Instagram. How do you go about creating and choosing these artists for that playlist?
Honestly, I'm always listening to music. Like, aside from making it, I'm just like obsessed with it, and I kind of use Spotify like I would imagine some people use Tiktok – I'm not really a Tiktok person, but I'll just sit on Spotify all night and just like, look for stuff, like virtual crate digging. I'm a big fan of YouTube. Like, there's loads of cool stuff on YouTube that you can find, just random old soul records. I like a lot of old stuff. I'm quite bad for that. it's just, it's just a hobby of mine. Really, I just love music.
I would love to talk about your latest song, Touching Toes. It's such a delicate love song about letting someone into your space and recognising the moment when you know it's love. Why did you choose Touching Toes to mark the end of this chapter?
Honestly, I got a good guitar given to me by my manager after Messy was finished and out, and I've been writing a lot on the guitar, and I wrote Time and Touching Toes on it, but especially Touching Toes, I really held onto it for a moment, because it felt quite vulnerable. And I was a bit like," I don't know, maybe I don't need to share this one". Maybe this is just a sweet song for me, but I think it just felt like a good, a good closer to this couple years of music. And I like how close up it is. I really like how intimate it feels. It just felt like a sweet way to end this bit of music and be close with people that like listening.
Even watching the music video with just you and the guitar, seeing you so vulnerable, it was so beautiful, simple.
Yeah, I'm always into less is more and simplicity. I was just listening to a lot of acoustic music, and I just thought, why not? I could do that.
And besides Laneway Festival, what have you got coming up that you're quite excited about?
What can I say? *Laughs* I'm making new music. I'm working on my second album, which is going to be great, hopefully. More shows, I can't say where, but more shows next year and other places in the world. And I think I'm just looking forward to the next year of my life. This year's been crazy, and I think next year will be crazier still”.
Two more to get to. SPRINTS’ All That Is Over arrives on 26th September. The Irish band are extraordinary and I really admire their music. You definitely need to pre-order this album. Below is some more details about one of the biggest releases of this year:
“There’s a palpable flurry of momentum surrounding SPRINTS. The Dublin band have enjoyed a whirlwind year, marked by back-to-back wins and rapid ascent. They unveiled their Top 20 debut album Letter to Self in January 2024, picked up two RTÉ Choice Award nominations for Best Irish Album and Breakthrough Irish Artist, opened for IDLES and Pixies, and delivered feverishly talked-about sets at Glastonbury, End of the Road, and All Together Now.
Since the album’s release in 2024 – met with 5-star reviews from NME, DIY, and Dork, and acclaim from Pitchfork and Brooklyn Vegan – the four-piece have taken their visceral live show across the globe. Along the way, they’ve become an essential new name in contemporary rock, known for urgent, compassionate songwriting shaped by personal tales of trauma and resilience.
Now, SPRINTS are turning that relentless energy into new material. SPRINTS about the new album: "All That Is Over" feels like a second chance at a first album. Gone are the shackles of insecurity, and we have confidently stepped into what we feel is our best work yet. It’s loud, emotive, boisterous, and a lot of fun. This is an album about love, lust, art, and passion. It is a rejection of the narratives they will try to spin to force those already marginalized to suffer more. It is the repelling of criticism, critique, and the combat of the modern world. This is renaissance and rebellion because within the disillusionment with the world, the fatigue, there is still hope. There is still love, music, and art and a chance to start again and that’s where you’ll find us. In between hope and a hard place. Welcome to our cowboy gothic”.
I am going to end by recommending an album from an American Pop queen. Zara Larsson’s Midnight Sun is the final album from 26th September that I want to highlight. It is going to be an immense album that will get a lot of attention. Here is where you can pre-order it:
“Multi-platinum chart–topping global pop powerhouse Zara Larsson kicks her boldest era yet into overdrive with her heavily anticipated new album Midnight Sun. Created over the last year with frequent collaborator MNEK, alongside producer Margo XS and songwriter Helena Gao, this album is her best work to-date. Its storytelling bursts with truth and vulnerability, plumbing the depth and growth of Zara’s artistry and journey over nearly 20 years in the public eye. It’s an album unafraid to show all sides of the 27-year-old: lovestruck, wistful, ambitious, cocky, flippant, and uncertain, often in the same breath”.
September is the busiest month of the year so far when it comes to fantastic albums. I have covered most of the best, though there are still others that you may want to investigate and order. From Sophie Ellis-Bextor to Cardi B through to Adam Buxton and Olivia Dean, there is something on offer for pretty much anyone! It goes to show that September is…
A jam-packed month!